The Summoned
by pddpro
Summary: MoD!Harry is summoned to an alternate world by a very distraught Severus Snape to bring the love of his life back. Harry reluctantly agrees to aid him in exchange for a terrible price. How will Severus Snape, who has no memory of ever loving Lily Evans, fare in this world? Powerful!Harry, No Slash, Neville Longbottom is the BWL.
1. Chapter 1

Being a master of Death was the most unfortunate thing that could possibly happen to an individual. At least, that's what Harry Potter believed in earnest. He still recalled the cursed day when he held the third of the Hallows, the Resurrection Stone, thereby sealing his fate as the one and only person with control over Death itself. Yes, the perks were attractive, Harry agreed but the price that came with it was terrible i.e. Immortality.

There was a day when Harry would have scoffed at the mere thought that a person could label Immortality as terrible but that day was when he was but a child of eleven still recovering from his battle against Lord Voldemort who had taken over the soul of the poor DADA professor Quirrel. He had asked the esteemed wizard about the fate of the philosopher's stone to which Albus Dumbledore had replied that the stone was to be destroyed by the consent of its creator Nicholas Flamel. Life was getting too tiring for them, Dumbledore had said and Harry had been alarmed about their imminent death. Death is but the next great adventure, now that he mused upon his headmaster's words of the past, he couldn't help but agree only his thoughts were slightly different in that regard. Death was not only the next great adventure but the absolutely required adventure, he had learned at a great cost.

He couldn't quite recall when he had started to notice the signs. In fact, he hadn't noticed it at all. It was Ginny, his beloved Ginny who had once commented that he looked as if he didn't age one bit past twenty five. And the world had come crashing down upon him. Time went on and his appearance remained the same and he began getting uncomfortable about it. His beloved wife did her best to comfort him, to assure him that his appearance meant nothing to her at all. In fact, she even once joked that possessing a forever young husband only meant that she was extremely lucky. In retrospect, he really did have the most amazing witch as his wife and if he could, he would go back in time, he would argue with his wife that it was him who had hit the jackpot.

As time went by, his suspicions became more and more evident and finally, it was when a barrage of Killing Curses hit him at once that he became sure that he indeed was immortal. He distinctly remembered that day still. After Ginny had passed away from an unfortunate potions accident at the unfair age of 40, he had gone in an answer to a distress call from Azkaban asking for backup against a group of Dark Wizards trying to break into the wizard prison. He was still unsettled from his loss and was not too careful (and subconsciously looking to die) the result of which was that he was taken unawares by the said group of infiltrators by merciless jets of green death curses. He had lost his conscious and found himself in an ocean of whiteness. It was then that Death had finally confronted him in all its glory to inform him that congratulations, he was now its master and while it would like nothing much than to impale his impudent self into oblivion but due to its own rule, it couldn't and it had also informed him that he was now an immortal and that he would finally know the horrors that came along with the arrogance of even thinking of one upping against Death itself.

That was the day that he'd learnt that not only was he doomed to roam the earth for eternity but also that Death was one snobbish arsehole. With this realization (not the Death being a snob part), he had finally managed to start accepting his fate. Granted that it was no easy thing but what else could he do?

His immortality was no short of a curse, but it would have been absolute hell if it was not for two people taking him in: Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. As Harry found out later, the Death of the Flamels had only been a ruse orchestrated, with the help of Albus Dumbledore, by the Flamels themselves. They had feared that Voldemort would come after them for the Philosopher's stone after he had risen once again. And it was this very reason that they had effectively isolated themselves from the wizarding society for almost two centuries and had not known about Harry's peculiar situation. But once they heard about him, they had tracked and found him and invited him to live with the two. They had also offered to teach Harry of all the things that the two of them were versed in, Nicholas in Alchemy and Perenelle in Blood and Soul magic. In a very short amount of time, Harry had found in Flamels, his mentors, friends and a loving family.

* * *

Harry was now in a room with two other people by his side, Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. The room itself was quite grand, almost like the great hall of Hogwarts itself. In the middle of the room was a small dining table and on the table was a delicious looking cake. There was a banner hanging on one side of the room on which was written in big bold letters, **HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!**

Indeed, it was the occasion of Harry Potter's birthday.

"Really Nic, you need not have done this," a slightly bored Harry said.

"Nonsense," the one who replied wasn't Nicholas but his beautiful looking wife Perenelle, "it is a happy occasion Harry! Now don't be a spoilsport and blow the candles"

The cake only had ten candles on it as was customary for the Flamels, Harry included, for none of them ever bothered to remember their true age.

Harry gave up arguing against his grandmother as always and blew the candles to which Nicholas only chuckled.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" both Nicholas and Perenelle exclaimed at once.

Harry looked fondly at both of the Flamels. He smiled when he saw Perenelle practically exuding happiness and even Nicholas who had a child like expression on his face. Harry knew all too well that the Flamels were a happy bunch. After all, if they didn't learn to be happy then they wouldn't have survived living for so many years bearing witness to each of their friends leaving them for their next great adventure.

"Time for presents!" Perenelle exclaimed.

She gave Harry a box nicely wrapped box which Harry unwrapped at once. Inside was a book entitled, "Arcane Magics of Blood and Soul"

"So you finally completed your grimoire, congratulations Nelle!"

"Completed just last night," Perenelle said smugly, "You probably know everything inside the book already though" Perenelle said.

"Thanks Nelle, it is quite concise from the look of it. You did a great job!" Harry thanked her earnestly. For him, perhaps the book was nothing but an organized tome of Blood and Soul magic but for anybody else of the wizarding population, the book was a treasure trove. In fact, if one were to weigh it against the entire Gringotts itself, the book would still come out more valuable!

"Now time for mine then," said Nicholas and offered a ring with a ruby on it.

"This.." Harry looked at it for a moment, "So you finally did it Nic? I was almost sure that you wouldn't be able to shrink the Stone any smaller!" Harry showed a genuinely surprised expression.

Nicholas looked quite smug at his praise and said, "Of course! It did take me a while but you would never guess what I used as the stabilizing metal."

"Amazing!" Harry said. Living with the Flamels for the better part of the thousand years, he had indeed picked up the art of Alchemy as well as Arcane magic from both Nicholas and Perenelle but unlike Nicholas, he was not a natural in Alchemy. Of course, he knew all that there was to know about Alchemy itself, so much so that he could produce a Philosopher's stone in a mere month but he was not a natural. Which didn't bother him in the slightest because Nicholas was quite the genius and was inventing things every ten year or so and whenever he did, Nicholas would always teach Harry the things that he had invented.

"Here," Nicholas gave him a bundle of papers, "there is the notes regarding the stabilizing agents."

"You boys and your obsession with shrinking the stone. Who cares what size it is !?" Perenelle said in a reprimanding tone.

"Now now Nelle," Harry said, "Don't steal Nic's thunder. He did quite a good job you know. And if it were not for the fact that there are only two Alchemists, me and him, around here it would have been a big thing!"

Harry said while skimming Nicholas notes. After he was done, he wore the ring on his right hand and then he swiftly vanished both the book and the note away presumably storing them in a safe place somewhere.

To Harry's praise, Nicholas showed a pleased smile while Perenelle merely showed a look that seemed to say, "whatever"

"Now boys, let's eat the dinner already!" Perenelle said and began to serve the dishes and it was at that precise moment that everything went to chaos.

Huge magic gathered inside the room much to the alarm of all three who were present inside. The mansion that the Flamels resided in began to shake violently. In fact, the whole of the Europe felt the magical disturbance that was going on at one remote part of France.

The room itself was brimming with magic and it appeared as if it was about to explode but that didn't come to be. Instead, the magic gathered at one point, just behind Harry and teared the fabric of reality. A black circular portal sprouted behind Harry and before he could even do anything at all, he was pulled inside of it. The last thing that he laid eyes on was the horrified expression of both Nicholas and Perenelle.

* * *

The first thing Harry registered was that he was no longer inside a well lit room. No, he was at a grassland instead. It was midnight and the only thing that was giving off any light at all was a circle of torches all around him. Harry observed his new surrounding carefully. If he was alarmed at all to this inexplicable event, he didn't let it show. He found that he was standing on top of a series of concentric circle each inscribed with exotic runes that he recognized as mix of Sanskrit and Celtic runes and inferred at once, he was summoned!

Harry looked back and saw that behind him was a person who was lying facedown on the ground. He moved quickly towards the person and ran his hands over his body. The man's magic was nearly depleted and his life pulse was weak. He did a basic healing on the person and made sure that his life was no longer under danger.

Shortly afterwards, Harry began to contemplate the exact set of events that brought him here. From the first look, it appeared as if the man on the ground performed an ancient summoning ritual which somehow summoned Harry from his room. But he dispelled that notion quickly. He knew enough about the Summoning ritual to know that the ritual would have forced him to disapparate from his room to the summoning site. But he had not apparated here, no, he had been pushed into the crack that had appeared in the fabric of reality itself which could only mean one thing, he had been summoned into another world!

"But he couldn't have done this!" Harry cried in disbelief, "It requires too much magic!"

But evidence clearly pointed that an inter world summoning had indeed occurred. Harry furiously began to think of things that would have made it possible.

And then it came to him, "Samhain!"

The day where magic was at its fullest, enriching the very air of the earth itself. The ritual caster had somehow managed to attract the entire excess magic of the world to fuel the ritual. After all, creating a tear in the fabric of reality was no small feat!

"But what were the conditions?" Harry said out aloud.

He very well knew that the summoning rituals like these had to have a condition about whom to summon. While it was unlikely that the summoner had used conditions like "The master of Death" or even "Harry Potter from alternate world" he didn't dispel that notion immed. Harry couldn't really know for the condition was a part of the chant of the ritual itself and not inscribed on the runes on the ground.

But one thing that he did know was that the Summoner was utterly foolish!

"He could have lost his life! Scary still, he could have killed people in a thousand mile radius!"

The ritual clearly required gathering of a great amount of magic at one place. If even one rune was out of place or poorly drawn, then the gathered magic would have exploded causing severe casualties! To say that the summoner was foolish was a great understatement. No, the man was the depth of foolishness. To even think of a ritual that could very well wipe out entire life in thousands of mile radius was a horrible horrible thing. But to perform it in reality! Harry didn't have the words to describe the amount of foolishness that was required.

"Aa.. W-was it.. success?" the voice of a person stirring caused Harry to cease his thoughts.

Looking back at him, he saw the person who was most probably the summoner, awaking from his sleep.

"You Fool!" Harry cried, "You Dunderhead, you genocidal maniac. What in god's green earth possessed you to perform this ritual!? Do you have any idea what you have done or what you could have done? Tell me you idiotic buffon, did you even know the risks involved?"

The man was still half awake when he replied, "I.. I had to."

"What could possibly be so important that you provoked one of the lost rituals of the old?" Harry said in a stern tone.

"No.. You don't.. You don't understand! I had to do it!"

The man was now fully awake and was trying to get up on his feet.

"You had to? Why? For the sake of power? Or wealth? Or perhaps knowledge? Tell me you fool, for what purpose did you endanger the fate of not only yours but of humanity itself?" Harry said mockingly.

"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" The man bellowed, "I do not require money, power or knowledge!"

At his outburst, Harry felt a cold chill pass through his heart. He had the distinct impression that he somehow knew this man.

"It is you that I want!" the man cried.

"What the fuck do you mean!" Harry couldn't restrain his voice.

"It is you! The only person who can help me!" The man was now shaking with emotions. He still hadn't looked at the one that he had summoned or perhaps he had looked but was in no condition to distinguish one thing from the other.

Harry felt as if something was terribly out of place. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he upped his methods. He infused his voice full with his magic and said with a very heavy and serious tone,

"What is your name?"

The magic vibrated the air around him through his voice. Harry could see the effect that his magic infused voice had over the one in front of him. He was now cowering with fear,

"S..severus.." the man managed only one word before Harry lost his cool,

"SNAPE!?" magic flared all around Harry causing the winds to go berserk and the grass around him to dance as if they were utterly scared of him.

The man looked up at Harry at the mention of his surname. And indeed, it was Severus Snape. Due to the overwhelming magic around Harry that was reacting to his anger, Harry was exuding a very angry red which made Snape wince his eyes. But Harry could easily see the person before him. Even after all these years, Harry had no problem of recognizing the person in front of him was: Severus Snape, the youngest potioneer who made his life hell during his stay at Hogwarts. Severus Snape, who silently guarded him from the sidelines while handing him detentions left and right. Severus Snape, the most complicated man that Harry had ever known during his long long life.

Severus Snape looked towards the person that he had summoned with fearful eyes. He was utterly exhausted and was barely capable of even standing upright at the moment but he just had to make sure. He had spent great many months of his life to perform this ritual. This was his one and only chance to right his wrongs and redeem himself.

"What was your summoning condition," Harry said each word with a calm that seemed to stop the world itself.

"I.. ," Snape was having a hard time forming his words, "I called the one who could bring her back.."

"TO BRING HER BACK?" Harry was having a hard time controlling his anger.

"YOU FOOL! YOU.. YOU IDIOT!" He also was having a hard time coming up with words to label the amount of foolishness that this once calm person had shown.

Harry soon retained his calm but his anger was still not absolved.

"Who do you want to bring back Snape!?" Harry was seething.

"Lily," he uttered a single world and the world went haywire. Harry was having an absolutely hard time restraining his fury but with that one word, it all came crashing down upon the world.

"YOU REALLY WANTED TO BRING BACK A DEAD!?" Harry shouted with a voice full of magical wrath. Snape was now cowering beneath him unable to feel the weight of his magic.

With the patience Harry had gained from his long long life, he somehow managed to calm himself a little.

"Not dead," Snape said meekly, "She is not dead."

"She is not?" Harry asked curiously.

"No," Snape repeated.

Harry's anger evaporated instantly. In fact, he felt a little embarrassed on having lashed out at the one in front of him without hearing everything from him.

"Tell me then, what do you mean by wanting to bring her back?" asked Harry.

Before Snape could say anything, many people instantly appeared around the two of them accompanied by the distinct pop that indicated an apparation.

"Freeze! We are Aurors from the DMLE. Raise your hands this instant!" One of the man said.

With the magical disturbance that had happened at this place, due to the summoning ritual used by Snape, it was a small wonder that ministry had appeared here to investigate. Harry, however, did not have the patience to deal with them at this instant.

He raised his hands and he as well as Snape were covered in an opaque golden sphere.

"This will keep them out for some while," Harry said. He could feel the multitudes of stunners that the Aurors were firing at his dome in vain.

"We could continue this conversation here," Harry said to Snape, "But I would very much like not to."

He then waved his hands around and the ground where the runes for the summoning ritual was cast was wiped clean. He grasped Severus by his hands and both of them faded out of existence.

* * *

The two of them appeared in a clearing. The clearing was surrounded by thick trees and foliage.

"Where are we?" Snape asked.

"That does not matter," Harry said casually, "Now, I believe you have some explaining to do. Begin with what made you do such a desperate ritual. Actually, just tell me everything from the start."

Snape looked uncomfortably towards him.. And jumped.

"YOU!" He barked.

As it so happened, this was the first time that Snape had looked at the face of one who he had summoned. He hastily pulled out his wand but before he could fire a red stunner, he found himself unable to move and then his wand flew out of his hands towards the man who very much looked like James Potter.

"POTT-" Snape started to say but lost his voice midway due to a silencing charm cast at him.

"I am not James Potter," Harry said in an annoyed voice, "So do not waste my time spouting any other words but the ones I want to hear or I swear to you I will rob you of your tongue." Harry had said the words with magically infused voice.

Fusing magic in his voice to project different emotions did a wonderful job of affecting those who heard the voice. In this case, Harry had projected mortal threat and as intended, it had the wonderful effect of shutting Snape at once. In addition to that, his face was now deathly pale due to Harry's threats.

"Good," Harry waved his hands dispelling the silencing charm on Snape. "Now begin."

Snape remained silent for a little while but then collected himself and then started to speak.

Harry didn't know much about alternate realities except for the fact that they existed. It was Nicholas who had been quite enthusiastic about the subject. Nicholas had, not only read most magical literature about alternate dimensions but he had also read quite a lot of muggle Physics too. Despite of not having too much enthusiasm on the subject, Harry had gathered, from many rants that Nicholas liked to go on, and from Severus Snape's narrative that he was indeed in an alternate dimension. One not so much different than his own.

Here too, Snape was the same person. Lily Evans' childhood friend. The both of them had attended Hogwarts and had been separated in two different houses. And here too, Snape had, in one moment of humiliation and fury ended up breaking his friendship with Lily with that one word.

Lily had then passed out of Hogwarts and had married James Potter shortly and had given birth to, not Harry Potter (to Harry's surprise), one Rose Potter.

Meanwhile, Snape had joined the Death Eaters and had been the bearer of the same prophecy, as of his own world, to Voldemort. This prophecy too had dictated about the vanquisher of Voldemort being born on the end of July to those who had thrice defied him and as such had indicated Rose Potter and one Neville Longbottom. And from here, things had diverged.

Voldemort had not chosen Rose Potter (which Harry suspected was due to her being a girl) and had instead targeted Neville Longbottom, killing his grandmother Augusta Longbottom in the process. The strict but loving grandmother, too had ended up providing a shield of sacrifice that had bounced off the Killing Curse to Voldemort himself and had defeated him in the process. As such, Neville Longbottom was now heralded as the Boy Who Lived.

However, things had not ended there. Voldemort's followers including Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr had somehow managed to infiltrate the Potter household in Godric's Hallow from which the Fidelius had been lifted after the defeat of the Dark Lord. James Potter had not been in the house due to his auror duties leaving his wife Lily Potter alone with their baby Rose. The Death Eaters had easily subdued her and then had tortured her to the point of insanity. James Potter and his friends had arrived at the house too late to find the Death Eaters still torturing her mercilessly. They had then subdued the Death Eaters but Lily was already driven to insanity and was still an occupant of a long term ward in the St. Mungos.

"I go to see her every day," Snape said between tears, "But she does not recognize me. She won't speak with me anymore, not even to fight. She just stares at me with those vacant eyes."

"I just had to do something to bring her back! They said, they said that no person in this earth could do anything to cure her. That she was too damaged. But I still did not give up any hope. And I was rewarded. Six months ago, I found an ancient book about the summoning ritual that was once used by the Indians to bring spirits of other worlds to this world."

"And then you used the ritual to summon me here.." Harry sighed.

"You.. You can heal her right?" Snape asked.

Harry looked at him for a moment. He could clearly see hope, desperation, obsession and a myriad of emotions on his face. Harry frankly thought that this was perhaps the first time that he had seen anything other than rage and sadness in Severus Snape's face.

"Suppose I can bring her back," Harry began, "Then what Severus? What will you do? Perhaps you've forgotten, but she is James Potter's wife and she loves him, not you. After she had been healed, she would want to be with her husband and her daughter, not with you, never with you. What do you gain if she is healed?"

"I do not care! I do not care if she is married to James Potter or not. I just want to see her, not with those vacant eyes on her face. I want to see her smiling again. You do not know how much it hurts when I see her face, once full with life and happiness, so lifeless on the hospital. You do not know how much I have wanted to just barge into Azkaban and rip the hearts out of those who did this to her. You do not know how much I abhor James Potter for failing to protect her, for leaving her in that house all alone. Please, I will do anything that you want. I will give you my life. I will even become your slave if you wish to but just bring her back! Please!"

Snape was now on his knees begging him. Seeing Snape like that, Harry was stunned. Never did in his life he imagine just how much had Snape loved Lily. The man was willing to give anything and everything for curing Lily Potter.

"What if I say that you have to get out of Lily Evans life forever?" Harry asked him. He knew that his was a very cruel thing that he asked of him but it was a necessary thing.

Snape did not even take a second to answer, "I will get out of her life forever."

Harry was surprised with the decisiveness in Snape's voice.

"And if I told you to forget her?"

"Then I will forget her!" said Snape, clearly annoyed.

Harry sighed once again. This level of obsession on Snape's part was not something that he had known about the man.

"Please, I told you, I will do anything! Anything to bring her back!" He pleaded once again.

"You do not understand Snape!" Harry barked, "It is very very costly to restore her!"

"So you can bring her back!" Snape cried in joy, "Then I beg of you, do so! Whatever be the cost I am willing to give. Even if it is my life that you required in exchange, I will happily give it up!"

"You don't understand Severus," Harry said softly.

"NO! IT'S YOU WHO DO NOT UNDERSTAND! LILY IS MY LIFE AND I WANT HER BACK!" Severus shouted, stunning Harry at his spot. Tears formed in Snape's eyes as he broke down in front of him, "It's you who do not understand!"

Severus said in a heartbroken voice, "For so long I have craved Lily's forgiveness and I have loathed her for not giving me that. I have despised James Potter for taking her away from me. I have hated this life where I have been denied the opportunity of being with her! But only after seeing her there, with those lifeless eyes have I understood. Lily's forgiveness does not matter, James Potter does not matter and even my life does not matter. The only thing that matters to me now is Lily herself. I wish her to wake up, I wish the smile, the life back on her face and for that, I am willing to do anything! ANYTHING AT ALL!"

Harry eyed him for a moment. This was not obsession, this was insanity. Severus Snape was an insane man and short of killing him, Harry could nothing to change his decision.

He sighed, "Very well. Let's go."

Snape instantly broke into the widest smile he had ever seen on the man. Harry felt conflicted at his smile but he didn't let it bother him. He grabbed Snape's hands and then disappeared out of there.


	2. Chapter 2

Without any noise, two of them appeared inside the Janus Thickey ward of the St. Mungos. Harry had known this room from his own world. The room itself was the same from when Harry remembered it to be, the only difference was that instead of Frank and Alice Longbottom in this world, there was Lily Potter who was its occupant.

It was about 1 AM when they had appeared in the room. Snape was, just for a moment, startled due to the very different means of magical travel he had just encountered but he did not question it. Instead, he moved straight to a bed where one his Lily was sleeping.

Harry followed him to the bed. There lying on the bed, was not a once healthy and smiling redhead that he had remembered his mother to be. The woman who was there was pale, deathly pale. Her smiling features were not there to be seen and her hair had lost all of its brightness. As Snape had said, there was no life in that sleeping face of her.

Snape started to move even closer to her but was stopped by Harry. Harry then cast a powerful privacy ward that prevented their voices from travelling in the air.

"Before I do this, I have to tell you Severus," Harry began, "Do you know what is wrong with Lily Potter?"

Snape frowned at him but said nonetheless, "She was tortured repeatedly by the Cruciatus curse. Due to it, she lost her sanity and her brain was damaged beyond repair."

Harry swayed his head to show that it was not the case.

"The Cruciatus curse is in fact a crude form of Soul Magic. The soul, as you might not know, is an unfathomable entity. It does not remain in this plane, so to speak. It resides in a different place than our mortal self and is connected to us by a line to our mortal body, a tether if you will. What the Cruciatus curse does is that it attacks the brain and via it, attacks the tether. Unlike the Killing Curse, which severs it entirely, this curse does not do a clean job. It is instead, akin to hacking the soul line repeatedly by a very dull blade. It's main purpose is to inflict pain you see and for that purpose, it is very efficient." Harry paused for a while before continuing.

"The thing that is wrong with Lily Potter, as is with those who are exposed to this vile curse for a very long time, is that this curse has not only damaged her brain which is the anchor of the soul tether, but also the tether itself. You see Severus, if it had only been the brain, then I would have been able to bring her back with ease because as much damaged as it might have been, it would still be mortal damage and thus within the bounds of healing arts. But since her line to the soul is also damaged, even if I heal her brain completely, she will not regain her life. To put it simply, I can only heal the mortal aspect of her wounds. The soul aspect is beyond me."

Hearing that the one summoned by him could not, in fact, heal the love of his life, an ocean of sadness hit Severus but before he could do anything foolish, the words from his summoned interrupted him.

"Do not fret Severus. I only said that _I_ can't heal her. But that does not mean that she can't be healed at all."

"What do you-"

"What I mean is, Severus, it is you and only you who can heal her."

Snape's eyes went wide when he was hit with this realization.

"Tell me then! I will do anything to bring her back!" He said with vigor.

"The cost is too high Severus," Harry said sadly.

"I will give my life if need be," Snape said vehemently.

Harry looked at Snape with a very complicated expression before saying, "It is not your life that is required Severus. It is your love that is."

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

"Soul Magic is a very intricate subject. Soul being the mysterious thing that it is, not many things can harm it you see. Only hate, absolute and deliberate hate can harm the soul and similarly, only the purest of love can heal it. I can confidently say that your love for Lily-although it borders to the point of obsession-is absolutely pure. As such, If I funnel your love of her to her soul lines, it will undoubtedly repair itself. But as I said it earlier, the cost is too high. You see Severus, damaging the soul takes very little from one but healing it takes too much. Bluntly speaking, once I take your love from you to repair Lily Potter's soul lines, I will, in the most literal sense of the words, _take your love for Lily Potter from you_. Do you understand what this entails?" Harry asked him.

"No," said Snape.

"Simply said, you will forget your love for Lily Potter. In fact, you will forget ever loving her. It will be as if you had never loved her. Lily potter would end up being just another girl to you. Tell me, after hearing the consequences, are you still willing to make the sacrifice?" Harry asked him.

"You said this will bring her back?" Snape asked.

"Absolutely."

"Then I am wiling," Severus said with determination.

"Very well Severus," Harry said.

He then moved towards Lily Potter. After casting a sleeping charm on her wandlessly, he conjured a bottle out of nowhere, "This is Life, the most potent healing potion ever in existence. I created it myself you know. It contains concentrated Elixir of Life, Phoenix Tears and Blood of Unicorn willingly given among other things and on top of healing any and all injuries in a mortal body, it provides frightening vitality."

Severus merely nodded at him. Even the potion master inside him showed no signs of curiosity at the mention of such miraculous potion which only showed how much single minded he was about getting Lily back.

Harry opened her mouth and made her drink small amount of the potion.

The effect was instantaneous. Not only color returned to her body but her hair gained its former luster too. Her cheeks became rosy and her atrophied muscle healed. She became visibly younger and healthier giving her a look of someone who was not in a coma for about a year but merely sleeping peacefully.

"Her mortal body is now healed Severus, including her brain. Now comes your turn," said Harry.

Severus moved towards him.

"Before we begin, extend your right arm," Harry said. Severus unhesitatingly extended his right hand towards him.

"You bear a very vile piece of soul magic on you Severus," Harry showed the Dark Mark, "This magic not only brands you as a cattle but also dirties your soul. We need to remove it before we proceed. However, there is a small problem. You have taken this mark willingly Severus and as such, I can not remove it of you. I can, however, claim you as my own. On doing so, my magic will fight that mark and replace it. But rest assured, unlike that mark, I will not brand you as a slave or a cattle. My mark will identify you as a friend. Do you agree Severus?" Harry asked.

"Yes," said Severus. At this point, Severus Snape would have even traded his soul with devil himself. Taking another mark on him did not even required any thinking on his part.

Harry then conjured his wand out of nowhere and tapped the Dark Mark on his wrists. Severus instantly felt the magic enter him. But unlike before, when he had taken the Dark Mark from the Dark Lord, there was no searing pain or utter coldness. There was only warmth that seemed to warm his entire body. After the magic had entered him, he felt a brief struggle take place inside his being. He mentally told himself that he no longer wished to be a follower of the Dark Lord. That, coupled with the gratitude that he was feeling for his mysterious summoned, decided the outcome of the battle in but a moment.

Severus gazed at his hand and then he saw, not a black skull or a serpent, but a golden phoenix spreading its wings as if about to take flight. Severus felt as if he had been dirty for quite a while and this new magic had somehow washed the dirt out of him.

"That mark means that you are my friend Severus," Harry said, "Now then, let us heal her soul. But before that, do you have anything to say to her?"

Severus moved towards Lily's bed. He then leaned in on her and in a move that culminated the entire things that he had wanted to say, he gently kissed her forehead.

"Well, that's that then," Harry said, "Place your palm on her forehead Severus."

Snape obediently placed his palms on the sleeping Lily's forehead.

 _You are a great man, Severus Snape, insane perhaps but great._ Harry thought privately before uttering an old greek chant.

* * *

Severus Snape found himself confronting his old memories.

His first meeting with a very young Lily Potter who was performing an accidental magic. He felt the innocence on her face, her excitement at doing magic and then he felt his overwhelming love for her. But it did not last for long. Slowly, he felt the feeling of warmth and care leaving him until it was non-existent.

The scene changed and then he found himself with young Lily Potter in a park. They were discussing about her letter from Hogwarts. He felt friendship, companionship and the feeling of joy. Slowly, that too trickled away from him leaving him nothing at all.

One by one such scenes flashed before him. He recalled the time they spent together at Hogwarts, their journey from Home to Hogwarts and Back in the train, the time they spent together doing homeworks or playing in parks. At each of these scenes, Severus would feel his love welling up for her and then he would feel the love draining away from him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Severus Snape finally opened his eyes. Before him was a very sad looking wizard who he had summoned from other world himself to help heal Lily Potter. Why had he wanted to heal Lily Potter? He could not recall but he did not fret on it for long because he had other things to worry. More specifically, he was feeling cold. Absolute cold that came from emptiness, as if a Dementor had sucked all happy memories from him. He looked around but did not see any Dementors. He was almost beginning to panic due to the cold when a very soft and trill voice rang inside him which he vaguely recognized as Phoenix's song.

When the song reverberated within him, he recalled his mother. His sickly mother who loved him very much and he also recalled the mysterious wizard in front of him, who somehow looked like James Potter. The arrogant James Potter who Severus disliked. However, he couldn't bring himself to hate the wizard in front of him, which was quite curious.

The Phoenix song was still going on inside him, making him forget any pain or the feeling of coldness and reminding him of his mother and the mysterious wizard that he had summoned.

"Our work here is done Severus," Harry said, "Come, let us go from here."

Snape merely nodded, too weak to do anything else. Harry then took his arms and with one last look towards Lily Potter, who was still under the influence of the sleeping charm, he disappeared, taking Snape away with him.

* * *

Remus Lupin apparated right outside the cottage of Godric Hollow. This cottage belonged to the Potters and was protected by heavy wards but since Lupin was keyed inside the wards, he didn't have any problems moving towards the house. He knocked twice in the door and was greeted by a grinning Sirius.

"Moony," Sirius exclaimed and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Hello Padfoot," Lupin said, "excited much?"

"Of course I am!" Sirius said while letting go of him, "It's an entire month since we saw you. Where were you anyways?"

"Order business Sirius. Dumbledore asked me to talk with the werewolves. Now that Voldemort is gone, he wants to establish a good friendship with the werewolf packs," Lupin said in a tired voice, "Anyways, where is James?"

"Inside, taking a little nap," said Sirius, "Poor man hasn't slept all night."

"Nightmares?" asked Lupin.

"Well, he is still getting the nightmares alright.. But not this time. There was this situation you see-"

Before Sirius could explain anything else, they were interrupted by a voice which had just entered the room.

"Moony, is that you?"

"James, it's so good to see you!" Lupin said and hugged him, "Padfoot said you were sleeping?"

"Couldn't sleep," James mumbled, pulling out from the hug.

"Merlin, you look like a ghost Prongs!" Remus said after looking at him.

"He does, doesn't he?" said Sirius.

But James didn't pay them any mind, "Come on, let's talk inside."

James directed them to the living room. The three of them then took seats around a table. James conjured a teapot, tea and glasses and made some tea.

"Where's Rose?" Remus asked.

"She is sleeping over at Frank and Alice's," said James.

"Oh," Remus said with a little disappointment, "I wanted to meet little Rose flower."

"Don't be sad Moony, what about we go there after catching up?" Sirius offered bringing a smile on Remus' face.

"So tell me Moony, where have you been the past month?" James asked.

"Order business Prongs. Just establishing a cordial relation with the werewolves but let's not talk about that," said Remus, "Sirius was saying that you guys had an incident last night?"

James sighed, "Yes. Quite a bizarre thing it was too."

"What happened?" Remus asked.

"At midnight last night, the DMLE detected traces of absurd concentration of magic you see, I reckon it was some sort of ritual," James said, "Fifteen teams were dispatched to investigate the scene."

"Fifteen? Merlin James! I have only ever heard of the DMLE dispatching at most ten teams and that too in the days when we were fighting the Death Eaters!" cried Remus.

"Yes that's the thing Moony," Sirius said in a serious tone, "They didn't really tell us anything but I think something spooked them real bad."

"Yes," said James, "it was most unusual."

"But what was it? The ritual I mean. What did you guys find?" Remus asked.

"All of us apparated there at the same time. It was midnight and so there wasn't much light. And some idiot," James looked at Sirius, "alarmed them of our presence without even first casting a Lumos."

"Hey I resent that!" Sirius cried in indignation, "I mean you were there too Prongs. Why didn't you cast it huh?"

Remus chuckled at the two of them, "So you didn't see anything then?"

"We did see them. There were two peoples and it was clearly a ritual ground but in the darkness we couldn't make them out," said James.

"And before we could do anything else," Sirius said, "One of them cast a shield.. or at least we think so. To be honest, I don't really think it was a shield you see."

"What Sirius means to say is," James explained seeing the confused look on Remus, "He cast a golden dome around him. But it was way way stronger than anything I have seen. All of the present aurors simultaneously cast all types of breakers at it but that thing didn't budge one bit. And you wouldn't believe what happened next Moony."

"Why?"

"Because," said Sirius, "One of the member in the team cast a killing curse at it!"

"Merlin's balls!" Remus cried, "The Killing Curse!"

"See, told you that you wouldn't believe it." James said with a frown.

"You bet I wouldn't believe it! Who in their right mind would cast the AK? Even when Crouch gave the orders to use the Unforgivables, only one of the hundred aurors did actually cast it! Who cast it anyway?" Remus asked.

"As we later found out," said James, "It was one of the Unspeakables. Apparently, he had the permission to cast the Killing Curse if need be."

"But rest assured Moony, he didn't actually cast it," Sirius said.

"He didn't?" Remus asked, perplexed.

"Yes. He would have cast it, mind, if not for the dome instantly disappearing halfway down his incantation," Sirius did a vanishing enactment.

"Yeah, and not only the shield vanished but when it was gone, both of the person inside it as well as any trace of the ritual carvings were gone too!" said James.

"You mean to say you let them disapparate? Come now Prongs, that many aurors in one location and none of them had the presence of mind to cast an anti-disapparating and anti-portkey ward around?" Remus said with disbelief.

"Told you he would say that," Sirius said with a guilty smile.

"You did, didn't you," James returned the smile, "You are right Moony, we were too busy attacking the shield and it didn't really come to our mind. We should have done it though."

"Yeah, we should have done it, even if it wouldn't have been of any use." said Sirius.

"What do you mean by that?" Remus asked.

"You see Moony, the minute we found out that they had disapparated ('or portkeyed', Sirius said) out of there, we cast detection charm all over the ground but curiously, we found nothing!" James said.

"Nothing?"

"Yeah," Sirius exclaimed, "No disapparation trace, no portkey trace nothing at all! It's like the buggers just disappeared out of the face of the earth itself!"

"Perhaps they disillusioned themselves?" Remus asked.

"No, we checked for that too. Believe me Moony, they just.. disappeared," sighed James.

"The whole ministry is freaked out Moony," Sirius said gravely, "They haven't told us what it was that spooked them so bad but believe me when I tell you, whatever happened last night was a big thing. Big enough to permit one of the Unspeakables to cast a Killing Curse."

A silence filled the air around them until it was dispelled by a very scared Remus, "You guys.. don't think he is back right?"

Remus didn't need to explain who he meant was back for all of them knew it already.

"I don't know Moony," said Sirius, "but what else could have possibly spooked the ministry and the Unspeakables?"

"At any rate," James said, "we should not make wild assumptions. It will only serve to increase our fears. Besides, Dumbledore hasn't said anything and I trust that man to be the first one to know if He ever comes back."

Both Sirius and Remus nodded their heads in agreement. All of them had a great deal of respect for their former headmaster.

Before anyone of them could do anything about the silence that had stilled the room, the fireplace suddenly roared to life and a face appeared out of it.

"MR POTTER!" The face cried.

All of those who were present in the room jumped in alarm. James collected himself quickly because he recognized the one who was making the floo call.

"Healer Joan!?" James asked.

"MR. POTTER! QUICK, COME TO ST MUNGOS. SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO YOUR WIFE!" She was shouting still. Her tone of voice indicated a great deal of excitement but it only served to ignite the feeling of dread on James' face.

"What happened to her!?" James couldn't ask because the face immediately vanished from the fireplace.

James instantly took a fistful of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace and yelled, "St. Mungos!"

An emerald flame roared to life and consumed him. Afterwards, both Sirius and Remus woke up from their stupor and hastily followed him in similar fashion.

* * *

James appeared out from the fireplace in a hall which he quickly recognized as the floo hall of St. Mungos. Behind him, Sirius and Remus too came out from the fireplace (although James hadn't seen them yet).

Without waiting for anything else, James quickly broke into a run towards the Janus Thickey ward of St. Mungos where his wife was kept.

James still remembered that day when his life had fallen apart. He had gone to apprehend the last of the death eaters along with Sirius in what should have been a normal raid. Their team had indeed captured the Death Eaters present but they had missed out the Lestranges: Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan. James and Sirius along with Frank and Alice had then disapparated back to Godric's Hallow for a little celebration only to find, much to their horrors, the Lestranges as well as Barty Crouch Jr, torturing his dearest Lily. She was screaming with such agony that his heart had nearly broken hearing her cries. What had happened next was the first battle where James had actually cast the Killing Curse killing Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. It was only due to Frank, Alice and Sirius restraining him that he had failed to kill Bellatrix and Barty Crouch Jr. The two of them had then been deported back to Azkaban but they had already robbed James of all his happiness. His Lily was now no longer present with him and his life would have lost all of its meaning had it not been for his daughter Rose and his friends Sirius, Remus and the Longbottoms.

As James recalled the event of the day that still gave him the worst nightmares, he found himself before the long-term ward where his wife was kept. Only, the ward was crowded by Healers. They were scurrying back and forth and whispering to each other in an excited manner. Sirius and Remus soon joined him in the ward and the three of them, pushing and shoving, made their way to Lily's bed. Then James saw the reason which had generated such excitement among the healers.

Lying on the bed, was no longer the woman who had lost her sanity at the hands of the filthy Death Eaters. No, this was not the woman who had lost all her smile from her face. She was not one who had the ghostly pale face and and a vacant complexion. This woman, the one who was now in front of James, was Lily. His Lily flower who was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her sleeping face had the rosy complexion that James remembered her by and her hair was the most luscious red ever. She was full of life.

"Lily," James had his eyes full of tears. Besides him, both Sirius and Remus too were unable to contain their tears.

"We found her like this Mr. Potter," said a kindly witch who James recalled as Healer Joan. Her voice was brimming with excitement.

"H-How?" James asked in a stuttering voice.

"That's the thing Mr. Potter," Joan said full of smiles, "No one knows! When we first found her like this, we called the most senior Healers in St. Mungos and none of them had an inkling of any idea about what brought about this change!"

"Healer, is she alright?" Sirius asked her.

"Alright is an understatement Mr. Black," said the kindly witch, "We checked her for everything you know and I can safely say that she is the most healthy witch I have ever seen in my life."

The healers around her nodded their heads in agreement. James once again looked at the sleeping face of Lily and an anxious expression came about him.

"Oh don't worry Mr. Potter. I assure you, she is just sleeping. In fact, she should be coming about at any time."

As if to prove her right, Lily stirred on her bed.

Healers all around them instantly stopped their conversations and looked at her.

Taking the breath away of all the healers present in the room, Lily opened her emerald green eyes.

Gone were the eyes that were vacant due to the torture she had suffered. Now, her eyes were the same green eyes that could drown James inside them for all eternity.

She blinked once and twice and confusion took over her face. The entire room was stunned with silence which was broken by a soft whisper of, "James."

The healers around her went crazy. Being a healer, they knew all too well than to let their emotions run wild but in the face of what they were witnessing currently, they somehow forgot all their professionalism. But before they became any louder and could scare Lily, Remus took charge and showing a presence of mind that defined him, instantly cast a privacy ward around them, shutting of all the noise.

"L-Lily," James said in a voice of utter sadness and relief.

"James," Lily said slowly, "I had a weird dream. You were there and Sev was too. He looked sad.. Why are you crying James?"

"Oh Lily," James moved near to her and threw his arms around her, encompassing her in the most tight embrace, unwilling to loosen his arms as if the moment he were to do that, she would disappear again.

"Umm.. James, you are acting funny you know," said Lily.

Around them, both Sirius and Remus let out a laugh filled with tears which only served to add on her confusion. James was still crying when Lily remembered something and a feeling of dread surrounded her.

"James!" She cried, "The Lestranges James, they were in the house! They attacked me! Oh James, Rose, where is she!"

"Shh.. It's alright Lily," James soothed her, "The Lestranges are captured and Rose is fine. She is at the Longbottoms at this moment." James words were filled with comfort and it managed to calm her down.

"Lily," Healer Joan who too was inside the privacy ward, said, "How do you feel?"

Lily, who apparently couldn't recognize the person in front of her, said, "I feel.. I feel quite excellent!"

"That's good Lily," Healer Joan said with a smile.

"Umm.. James, who is she? Where am I and why are you, Sirius and Moony crying like a baby?" Lily asked.

"We missed you Lily," said Sirius and then the two of them moved towards her and encompassed her in a hug. Lily was, understandably confused at being smothered by her husband and two of his friends but she decided not to say anything for the time being.

"Healer Joan," said James after pulling out of the hug, "can we take her back to home?"

"Well, she is quite healthy," Joan said, "But I am sorry Mr. Potter, I fear she will have to stay here for a little while. We have to test her for a few things. But after that, she can get back to her home."

This did nothing to falter the smile that James had on him right now. He was simply glad to get his wife back and nothing could deter the happiness that he was feeling at this moment. If he were to cast a patronus right this instant, He was sure that he could drive an army of a thousand dementors with extreme ease.

Even Sirius and Remus were happy on getting their friend back. In fact, all of the people present in the room were filled with joy and excitement, none of them aware of what had transpired in this very room a few hours ago.

* * *

 _A Miracle at Mungos: Lily Potter awakes from her coma (2nd November, 1982)_

 _By Beatrice Diggle_

 _Exactly one year after the fall of the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the hands of Neville Longbottom, the Boy Who Lived, another miracle has graced magical Britain. Lily Potter nee Evans, the wife of Auror Captain James Potter, who was tortured to insanity by the last remaining followers of You-Know-Who, suddenly came back to us from insanity._

 _"At 7 AM, I went to the long-term ward. What I saw there astounded me. Mrs Potter who had been a resident of the ward since last year after that unfortunate incident, had changed! I had seen her just last night at the end of my work hours. Poor thing was so pale and thin. But when I saw her the next morn, I couldn't believe my eyes! She had became healthy overnight!" said one Healer Joan who was the caretaker of Mrs Lily Potter. While her becoming healthy was a strange thing in and of itself, what happened next was so astounding that the entire population of St. Mungos was left in awe._

 _Auror Captain James Potter, who is also the Lord of the Noble and most Ancient House of Potter and husband of Lily Potter, was quickly summoned to St. Mungos to inform him of the changes that had happened to his wife. After Captain Potter arrived at the ward to find his wife in top health overnight, in what is being heralded as the second miracle since the fall of You-Know-Who, Lily Potter woke up from her sleep and talked to her husband! For our viewers to understand why this is a big thing, we must inform you that Lily Potter was the victim of a prolonged Cruciatus Curse, one of the most abhorred Unforgivables. The prolonged exposure of the curse had driven her to insanity as it tends to do. But never in history has it ever happened that any man or woman has woken up from the insanity resulted due to the Cruciatus curse._

 _A senior mind healer who wished to remain anonymous said, "This is an unprecedented phenomenon. The mind damage that results from the Cruciatus curse is incurable, at least by current standards. What has happened to Lady Potter is indeed a most miraculous thing. Almost as miraculous as the Boy-Who-Lived surviving the Killing Curse from You-Know-Who himself."_

 _This reporter can't speak for others but herself is feeling extreme happiness at the recovery of Mrs. Lily Potter and wishes that the worst of her fate has already passed._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 6**

"Ughh," Severus Snape woke up groaning.

The first thing he saw was that this room was familiar. No, it was not his room for it was too bright while his own wasn't. In that regard perhaps he really was like a Vampire, as some of his less pleasant acquaintances used to say.

"Leaky Cauldron," Severus concluded.

"Indeed, I particularly asked Tom for a room where the morning sun is more accessible," a new voice entered the room as if recognizing that Snape was awake.

"What happened?" asked Snape.

A curious look flashed across Harry's face.

"Tell me Severus, what do you remember?"

Snape's thoughts were still in disarray but slowly the events of yesterday came back to him. He recalled that he had performed the summoning ritual that he had spent almost his entire fortune to buy from the depths of Knockturn Alley. The ritual had been a success but he had passed out from exhaustion. After that he remembered being in a forest with James Potter and then they had made a trip to the hospital.

Snape suddenly looked at the man, "You!" He spoke in a volume that was a little greater than he had intended.

"Me, yes," the man smiled.

"Why are you here Potter?" Snape said in irritation.

Had James Potter been here, he would have been absolutely livid. Not because of Snape shouting at him but due to the lack of venom in his words that James Potter was so accustomed of hearing.

"I am here because you wanted me to be here Severus. And I am not James Potter," said Harry in a frighteningly calm tone.

"Why would I want you to.." Snape began but didn't finish. His eyes went wide with horror as the identity of man in front of him dawned on him.

"It appears you remember now."

"You.. The ritual-"

"It succeeded, yes. Congratulations by the way, on successfully performing one of the lost rituals and not blowing the world apart in that process," the sarcasm wasn't lost on Severus.

Both of them didn't speak for a while. Snape was thinking hard on what to say while Harry was simply waiting for Snape to begin. The silence was beginning to become uncomfortable when Harry decided to ease it,

"Do you recall why you summoned me, Severus?"

"Yes.. No! I mean, it had to do with someone.. but I can't remember who." Snape said, "Though, I have a feeling that it was done. Was I obliviated?"

Snape looked at Harry.

"An understandable conclusion," Harry said coolly, "But no, you were not obliviated. You just forgot."

Snape was confused, "Isn't it the same?"

"No Severus, they are not the same thing," said Harry.

"But how-"

"Technicalities of linguistics, don't bother your time dwelling on them," said Harry in a dismissive tone.

Snape was reluctant to let the issue slide but it didn't appear that the mysterious wizard would give answer.

"So my goal was fulfilled then? I guess that's a good thing, even if I don't remember it," Snape muttered. He looked up to the one in front of him, "What will you do now? Go back to your world I presume?"

A sad look flashed upon Harry's face but it disappeared before Snape could see it, "I would have indeed gone back to my world if it were not for the simple fact that I can not.

"The ritual that you used was a truly powerful one you see. It searched multitudes of alternate realities in search of the one that you asked it for and it found one too, resulting in me wrenched out unceremoniously from my own world. Or at least that was what it was supposed to do."

"Do you mean to say that I made a mistake? I would have you know, the runes were perfectly defined and I didn't even make a millimeter worth of deviation," Snape said with arrogance

"Oh you didn't make any mistake alright. The runes were correct, marvelously so, but you underestimated the magic required to fuel the ritual. Know this Severus, the magic required to search the vast alterverse would have been enormous and not even the magic that permeates the air in Samhain would have sufficed."

"How did the ritual succeed then!?" Snape snapped.

"And that, dear Severus, is the million galleon question," Harry smiled, "Although, if I had to make a guess, I'd say that it was due to the strength of your intents behind the ritual that prompted magic itself to help you out. But then it could very well be due to the intervention of another entity. Or maybe something else entirely."

Severus looked grave at what Harry said.

"So, why can't you go back?" Snape asked.

Harry looked tired at this repeated question but he answered nonetheless, "For one, I do not know whence I came. This magic, it is not like apparition you know. This is about the reality itself and even I, a great sorcerer though I am, must confess that it is beyound me."

Snape looked at Harry for a great while and said in a low voice, "I am sorry."

Harry smiled at him, "I forgive you Severus."

"I didn't think you'd forgive me this easy," Snape mumbled.

"You did a foolish thing really but you did it thinking that it was the correct thing to do. Besides, holding a grudge against you won't take me back home," Harry dismissed him.

"What do you wish to do now?" Snape asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me Severus?" Harry asked.

"I.. don't know," Snape said, "I already spent the last of my fortune on the ritual so I am a broke now. I don't really know what to do."

"Well, that makes me feel bad about taking money from you earlier. Anyways, since we are to stick together-"

"We are?" Snape asked.

"Indeed. You are my friend after all," Harry said, looking at Snape's right wrist.

Snape followed Harry's look towards his arm. It made him quite uncomfortable. After all, that was the place where he had once taken the mark of the Dark Lord. The burn on that place constantly served to remind him that he was a Death Eater, the follower and slave of the Dark Lord. Curiously, he was no longer feeling the burn on his wrist. And now that he thought about it, that place felt quite warm.. almost comfortable.

Snape hastily lifted his sleeves and saw with wide eyes, the place where there was once the mark of Snake and Skull, now there was a proud golden Phoenix posing as if ready to take flight at any instant.

"The Dark Mark.. It's gone!" Snape exclaimed.

"It is gone, yes," Harry nodded his head.

"No! You don't understand! It's gone!" Snape cried.

"I understand it all too well, it is indeed gone," Harry said again to his own amusement.

"But.. But.. The Dark Lord said that this mark would never leave us!" Snape's face changed with realization, "Does this mean the Dark Lord is gone!"

"It pains me to say that Voldemort is not gone," Severus flinched, "No, if the things that I remember are true, then he still roams the earth. But, that is now no longer your concern Severus. I have removed and replaced that vile piece of magic with my own," Harry glanced at his wrist again, "I daresay mine is much better, and good looking."

Snape was hit with another realization, "Does.. Does this mean I am no longer his servant?"

"Why I said that just before, didn't I?"

"But then.. That would mean.. You are my lord?" Snape asked.

"Don't sell yourself to servitude so hastily Severus," Harry frowned at him, "And you misunderstand, I only gave you that mark to rid you with the Dark Mark and to help you recover. I did not have any other motives behind that. Certainly not of forcing you to my servitude."

Snape looked a little embarrassment at being chided, "What do I call you then?"

"Oh! How rude of me!" Harry exclaimed, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Harry.. Harry Flamel."

"So.. Mr. Flamel?" Snape asked.

"Well, I suppose that works too. Although, if you wish, you can call me Harry. After all, it is only fair since I call you by your first name."

"So," Snape asked, "What do we do now.. Mr. Flamel?"

Harry looked thoughtful for a while.

"For starters, why don't we get ourselves some breakfast?"

* * *

"You really should have said something earlier you know," said Harry as the two of them were walking through the go to place of the British wizarding world: Diagon Alley. It was still a little early, about eight in the morning and the alley was not up to its usual hustle bustle. Several shops, including Quality Quidditch Supplies, the Apothecary, Flourish and Botts book supplies were yet to be opened. However, other shops like Florean and Fortescue Ice Cream Parlor, Madam Malkins robes and curiously, Ollivander's wand shop had already started serving their customers.

Walking down the alley were two wizards. One young Severus Snape who was dressed in his usual black vampire like robes and alongside him was a youthful blond wizard who had a oddly mysterious look about him with his intelligent emerald eyes, refined facial features, and an unfathomable plus subtle aura around him which gave him an aged feel. If the wizard were to tussle his hair and dye his hair black as well as use a specific type of glasses, he would no doubt look remarkably similar to one James Potter. But with his current features, courtesy of a small glamor charm, even the closest friends and acquaintances of James Potter would have be unable to find any resemblance on the two of them.

The said wizard, also known in some universe as Harry Potter, didn't have that pleasant look on his face that he had started the day with. Rather, he looked a little miffed.

"I told you earliest I could.. That was the last of my money," Severus said in a tired voice.

Harry sighed. It really wasn't Snape's fault that he was forced to return the breakfast that he had ordered from Tom the barman. However, that still didn't mean that he was less irritated. Harry had lived quite the long life and never in his entire life was he ever forced to return food that he had ordered. That was of course partly due to the fact that he rarely ate outside which was in turn due to him being way too popular in the wizarding world. Nonetheless, this was a new situation for him. For once in his life, excluding his painful childhood, he was lacking money.

"Anyways, it would not do us any good to dwell on that little incident any further. What we should do, instead, is to address a bigger problem at our hand. Now Severus, when you said that you spent your entire fortune on that summoning ritual, did you mean it literally?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Snape confirmed, "The ritual was quite an expensive one and my entire fortune was insufficient to cover it. In fact, I had to borrow a bit from my.. friends."

Harry remained silent at this news. If Harry had any doubts regarding Snape's intent behind the ritual, it disappeared. The man had truly been desperate enough to sell everything he owned for the sake of the ritual.

"Sorry then Severus for spending the last of your money," Harry apologized albeit his tone was not of the one who asking for a sincere apology.

Snape mumbled something unintelligible in reply. Not that he was holding a grudge against the wizard for spending his money to provide for his own rest.

"Where are we going?" Snape asked as they were moving further into the alley.

"I don't know about you Severus, but I for one am quite hungry. You pulled me to this world while I was eating.. Before I could eat actually. Did you know that?"

Snape remained silent, waiting for Harry to finish his answer.

"We," said Harry with an emphasis, "are going to Gringotts for a small trade. I have some items on me that the Goblins will no doubt agree to trade for quite a sum."

"We are going to trade with the Goblins?" Snape asked, mildly surprised. Goblins were rather nasty to deal let alone trade things with.

"We are indeed going to the Gringotts to trade some items with Goblins. And as true as you might be regarding the good nature of Goblins (Snape scoffed), that is but one concession that we'll have to make to fill our bellies."

Snape nodded, "So, what is this object?"

"Objects Severus. I have several of alchemic as well as ritualistic objects in my possession. And very rare too. In fact, if it were at all possible, I would have never agreed to part with even one of them."

"Oh.." said Snape rather eloquently and began starting to think for some suitable reply (consolation perhaps?) to give to the summoned wizard but he was interrupted. By a bright purple light flying out of the alley that they happened to be crossing at the moment. As he was reaching to gather his wand from his holster, he realized that it was already too late. The purple jet of light, a particular dark curse that had something to do with one's lung, was already upon him in a flash. Snape braced himself for the impact, hoping that he would be consious enough to reach the apparition point across the street to apparate himself to St. Mungos as early as possible.

Severus Snape was a Slytherin through and through due to his ambition of making a name for himself. But that didn't mean he was a coward. That was precisely why he was able to keep his eyes open even as the curse was about to hit him and was able to see the back of the wizard, who was beside him not a moment ago, shielding himself from the curse. The speed of the said wizard was fascinating of course but what was even more amazing was that the purple curse simply diffused itself before coming in contact of the wizard without him casting even the simplest of the shield charm (for Snape surely would have recognized a shield charm cast even wandlessly).

"Are you hurt Severus?" asked Harry.

 _What am I? A baby?_

"I'm fine," Snape replied curtly.

He walked out from Harry's behind and peeked into the alley from which the curse had come flying. What greeted him was a group of five shabby looking wizards surrounding an old looking man. The man was on the ground and the wizards around him were laughing rather disgustingly.

"Gentlemen," said Harry to the group before Snape could do anything to prevent it for he thought that hailing a bunch of malicious looking wizards wasn't the best thing to do when one was outnumbered.

The wizards who were laughing at the old man just a moment before now all looked at the newcomers.

"Who 're ye?" one of the man asked, pointing his wand toward Harry and Snape.

"We," said Harry, "are just your everyday wizards walking peacefully about Diagon Alley in this lovely morning."

The four delinquents were confused. Snape too, was amused.

 _Probably not the answer that they'd hoped_.

"Disregarding your atrocious aim for the moment, might I inquire as to why you all thought it a good idea to let out a stray curse so close to the main street? Oh before that, do answer why were you harassing someone elderly than you? Do you not have respect for the elder generation?" Harry's voice was patronizing.

"Sod off!" one of the men said while moving towards Harry in a threatening posture.

"I would not," spoke Harry.

A creepy smile flashed on the man's face as he said, "Suit yerself"

He then promptly raised his wand and spoke the incantation,

 _Crucio!_

This time, Severus Snape was quite ready with his wand on his hand. However, the spell that had come out of the man's wand was not nothing that he had anticipated. He watched in horror as the vile spell made its way towards the wizard shattering the standard shield that Severus had somehow managed to cast between them.

The spell collided, no, it didn't exactly collide. It was as if the spell was resisted for the spell fizzled gradually before it could touch the wizard's body.

"That was not a wise thing to do," spoke Harry in a very calm tone. But the calmness of his voice belied the oppressing atmosphere that seemed to radiate from his being. The air around all of them instantly became cold and all of the people excluding Snape began to shiver under his magic.

Harry slowly moved towards the one who had cast an unforgivable at him. Curiously for Severus, the delinquints made no move to back off from the approaching tyrannical figure.

As Harry came almost face to face with the one who had cast the Cruciatus, he said in a very slow voice, "Do not treat the magic of the soul so lightly boy."

Harry then extended his finger and touched the said wizard in his forehead. With a thud, the shabby wizard fell to the ground. His friends, seeing the fallen frame of their leader coupled with the air of terror that they were feeling from the wizard needed no further words to flee with haste.

"Not so fast," spoke Harry and with only those two words he somehow dragged all of the fleeing people back to him.

"L-l-leav' m-me," the one who had fired the first spell to Snape said in a trembling voice.

"Quiet!" Harry hissed at him, "I have no time to play with you idiots. Take this man back with you and get him to St. Mungos if you can. Oh, and I have tagged all of you with my own form of magic. Cast an Unforgivable again and I would know. Instantly."

It was all it took from Harry for the man to levitate the fallen man on the ground up with him and run off in opposite direction.

After all of them had gone, Harry moved towards the old man who was still sitting on the ground. He visibly flinched when Harry extended his hands to him.

"Relax, we mean you no harm," he said to the old man.

The previous tyrannical aura that Harry seemed to radiate was instantly dispersed and a warm and comforting aura now spread around him. That, along with Harry's words of comfort relaxed the old man.

"T-Thank you sir," the man said in a very tired voice.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"I-I'm alright," the man was shivering a little.

"He shows the symptom of being afflicted to the Cruciatus," Snape said in an objective voice.

A subtle flinch from the man when Snape spoke the word "Cruciatus" was enough to prove that he was indeed subjected to the vile curse.

"Come on, we'll take you to St. Mungos," Harry offered his arms and pulled the man up.

"T-That won't be n-necessary," the man spoke.

"Now now, I understand your dislike for the healers but this is serious you know. You must immediately undergo the post-cruciatus treatment."

"N-No," the man resisted, "I have some potions.. at home.. Please, my grand-daughter is alone," the man said weakly.

Harry considered it for a moment.

"Okay then, tell us your address and we'll take you there. You yourself are in no condition to disapparate."

"I-It's just around the corner," the man said and was about to collapse when Harry promptly grabbed him and provided support.

The two of them along with Severus began walking towards the direction pointed by the man and after but a minute arrived at a small establishment in the borders of the Diagon Alley.

* * *

"Dada!"

A black haired young woman ran towards the three of them as soon as they had stepped foot inside the establishment. The girl was quite plain looking with black eyes, ample proportions and a comely yet unremarkable features.

"A-amber dear you are killing your Dada," the man spoke as the girl latched herself furiously at the old man.

"Dada, where were you! I was so worried about you! You didn't come last night at all! How many times must I tell you to not go to that hateful place Dada. What would Gran say if she were here?"

"I am sorry dear, I shall never go to that place again!" the man said with sincerity which made the expression on the girl's face quite complicated.

"As much fun this bickering is," Snape said in a cold voice, "he needs an immediate dose of calming draught and nerve soothing potion."

"Dada? Who are these men?" the girl spoke.

"These men, well they rescued me."

"Rescued you? From what Dada?"

"Well you see Amber dear-"

"Miss Amber," Harry asked, "Please forgive us for intruding but your grandfather urgently needs calming draught and nerve soothing potion. We hate to tell you but he was exposed to the Cruciatus."

The look on the girl's face instantly changed from one of confusion to of absolute horror.

"DADA! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?"

She shouted at her grandfather in concern.

"Well dear I'm alrig-"

"No he is not," Severus scowled as he took his wand in his hand and spoke "Accio Calming Draught. Accio Nerve Soother"

Two bottles of potions zoomed in from the nearest potions cabinet which he grabbed with ease. Apparently, the man had not been lying about the potions being at his home. Severus then proceeded to force feed the potions to the old man.

"YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY GRAND FATHER!" she cried at Severus.

"We are sorry to be so forceful Miss Amber but Cruciatus curse is a serious thing. We would have taken him straight to the St. Mungos if it was not for your grandfather's strong insistence," Harry answered in his stead.

"Amber dear, please calm down," the old man said softly, "they are good men. If not for them, those hoodlums would have.." He didn't complete his sentence.

A small streak of tear ran down Amber's eyes as she took in her grandfather's words. Her grandfather was a good man. In fact, to her, he was the only remaining family. To see her grandfather, so weak and fragile due to one of the three most dangerous curses in existence, she couldn't hold herself.

She clutched him tightly and began sobbing softly.

"Miss Amber? He would be alright but he does need to rest," Harry said in soothing voice.

Amber nodded in response and gently guided her grandfather to the upper floor and into his bed.

When Amber had gone to attend to her grandfather, Harry looked around the shop. He was quite interested to find that the shop itself was in fact an enchanter's workshop. The old man had apparently been an enchanter.

"Flamel, we should get going," Severus reminded him.

"Yes, I suppose we should," Harry agreed.

As the two of them were making their way out of the building, a voice stopped rang out behind them.

"Please wait for a moment!"

The voice belonged to Amber.

"You can't just go! We have yet to thank you for your assitance," she said to the two of them.

"Your gratitude would be enough Miss Amber. We do not require anything else," Harry replied with a warm smile.

"No, that would not do. Dada was insistent that we thank you somehow! We have only just established this shop so I can't give you money," she said with a twinge of embarrassment, "but I really can't let you go without thanking you properly."

The girl happened to be quite stubborn, Harry thought. Not that he did not understand her sentiment but he had some trades to do and a breakfast to eat. Harry smiled as he remembered the point about breakfast.

"If you are so insistent Miss Amber, then can I ask of some food from you? Both of us has not had breakfast and I must confess, we are quite hungry."

The girl, Amber lightened up at the suggestion.

"Yes! That would just be perfect. I will make you some bacon and eggs!"

She then ran upstairs after ensuring that both Harry and Severus were not going to leave before eating breakfast.

"This really is delicious Miss Amber," Harry said between gulping down his food. He hadn't ate anything for a long time and inter-dimensional travel wasn't really easy at one's stomach.

"Thanks," Amber said with a little red on her cheeks, "My gran taught me how to cook. Compared to her, mine isn't really that special."

"I disagree. This is really good. Don't you think so Severus?" Harry asked his tagalong.

"Hn." was Severus' eloquent agreement.

Chuckling at Severus' behaviour, Harry turned once again towards Amber.

"So.. I take it that this is an enchanter's workshop? Is your grandfather an enchanter?" Harry asked.

Amber was mildly surprised. Their shop itself was just recent on the Diagon Alley and there wasn't anything specific lying around that would clearly indicate the room to be an enchanter's workshop. In fact, the shop only had some trinkets scattered around and the main workshop was located at the floor above. For a stranger to recognize their shop correctly meant that he too had some knowledge of enchantments.

"Yes. My dada is an enchanter. And I help him around the shop. But I am surprised that you recognized it."

Harry smiled at that.

"There is a certain smell around an enchanter's workplace. This room has it too."

"Oh?" Amber expressed her curiousity. Never in her life had she heard about this smell.

Sensing her unasked request to explain further, Harry decided to entertain her.

"You see, an enchanter dabbles in various fields in his line of work. Runes, Metallurgy and Arithmancy being the primary of them. There are certain brave enchanters who even explore the realm of Alchemy. And in both Metallurgy as well as Alchemy, Mercury acts as one of the base component. I can smell the faintest of Mercury vapors lingering in the environment."

Severus looked surprised at the explanation. As an up and coming Potion master, he too could recognize the Mercury vapor now that Harry had explained. But he had totally missed it at the start.

"Oh, I didn't know that you were this knowledgeable about an exotic field such as Alchemy?" Amber asked him.

"Exotic field?" Harry questioned her.

"Yes, it is merely the extension of Metallurgy into organic magic is it not? Apart from some research about it in the late thirteenth century by Nicolas Flamel, there doesn't exist any substantial material about it. I had always consider it to be a folly if you ask me. I mean to think that metals could be imbued with organic magic with anything other than Runes seems so farfetched," Amber explained.

Harry was a little startled by her talk regarding Nicolas Flamel but he didn't show anything other than a mild surprise. He would have to ask Severus about Nicolas and Perenelle afterwards.

"But Miss Amber. Runes do not provide the same freedom with organic magic."

"Yes they do not. But is that not why we have potions? In my opinion, Potion is the very definition of organic magic. Anything from Healing Draughts to Poisons, Pepperups to the Draught of Living Dead and even Amortentia and Felix Felicius. You can brew all sorts of potions for all sort of organic purposes. How could Metallurgy ever compare to the versatility that is potions?"

Amber was quite passionate in her explanation and it had the effect of catching the attention of another potion enthusiast present in the room.

"Well put," said Snape.

Harry too was come over with competitiveness.

"Ah, but you forgot Miss Amber, potions do not have the same lasting effect as Alchemy has. Polyjuice, Felix Felicius, Amortentia, you name it, each of them can not be sustained beyond a certain time limit. But Alchemy has the potential to sustain any organic magical manifestations as long as one provides enough magic to it."

Amber struggled with her response this time. What Harry had said was theoritically true and she did not really have any words to rebuke it with. Fortunately, Severus Snape came to her rescue.

"In most of the cases, the duration of potion effect does not matter. Healing for example. Once the potion restores the wound, its further effects are no longer needed. And there are certain potions which are much more potent like Draught of the Living Dead."

"Ah but Severus, it is in the minority is it not? But not so in Alchemy. Besides, Alchemical healing is much more potent than any Healing Draughts."

""Oh?"" Both Severus and Amber commented at once.

"Yes," Harry explained, "The epitome of Alchemy, The Philosopher's Stone can produce the Elixir of Life which can grant immortality to those who drink it. Potions can never do that," Harry argued.

"Both Philosopher's Stone and Elixir of Life are myths," Amber countered.

Once again Harry was surprised. In his time, it was a common knowledge that Nicolas Flamel had created the Philosopher's Stone. Apparently, it was not the case in this universe. Reminding himself to research about it later, he focused on the current conversation.

"It might not be as mythical as you presume to be, Miss Amber."

Harry said that with a hint of mysterious air. It effectively put an end to the argument.

"I am surprised though. You seem to be quite passionate about potions. At your age, it is uncommon for any one to possess such passion for any field let alone a challenging field such as potions," asked Harry.

Amber reddened due to his praise.

"Er.. I liked potions from the start. In fact, I have an Outstanding in my potions NEWTS."

"Oh, it is even more remarkable. You will pursue your Master on it then?" Harry asked.

At this, Amber deflated.

"I want to, but apprenticeship costs quite a lot.."

"Oh, that's a shame then. By the way, Severus here is actively pursuing his own master in Potions. Maybe he can help you out now and then?" Harry pointed towards Severus.

"He can?" Amber brightened. A recognition dawned on her face a millisecond later, "You are Severus Snape aren't you? The young prodigy? I read your work on the Potions monthly about the usage of the Thaumaturgical brewing of Wolfsbane. It cuts the brewing time almost by half and increases the success rate of the brew! It was quite amazing Mr. Snape! I can't believe that it was you who I was talking to!"

Severus felt awkward at the attention that the young girl was giving him. His work on the alternative brewing of Wolfsbane was quite creative and his paper had received a lot of critical recognition in the potions community. Apparently, the young girl read that too. That alone was enough elevate Severus' view on the girl but the close proximity of hers was a bit.. troublesome.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 7**

"What a bothersome girl."

"Don't be like that Severus. I think she is rather cute. Plus, she did feed us a nice breakfast," said Harry. Currently, the two of them were making their way through the Diagon Alley.

"She was clingy," Snape surmised the root of his problems.

Harry smiled as he remembered Amber pestering Snape with her multiple questions regarding potions. The girl had a remarkable thirst for knowledge and multitude of questions of her own. Had it not been for her overexcitement at meeting a rather famous potions apprentice, Harry suspected that the two of them would have done splendidly.

"Well she was a bit.. curious, I think (Snape snorted). But you can't fault her for it. Meeting a well known figure of one's field would do that to you. Besides, you potion masters are a rare bunch. Meeting you today must have made of pretty happy."

That was an understatement at best. The girl had been absolutely exuberant after learning Snape's identity. So much so that she had refused to let the two of them leave until Harry extracted a promise from Snape to meet her in the future. Hence Snape's discontentment at the situation.

"Are we no longer going to Gringotts then?" Snape asked.

"I told you earlier didn't I? I was only willing to trade with those theiving beings because I was pretty hungry. Now that I have had a satisfying breakfast, I no longer have to do so."

"You don't like them much do you?"

"Do not like them? If that is not an understatement then I don't know what is. I nearly killed all of the buggers back in my own world. Idiots threatened me to hand over a Philosopher's stone to them. They even had the gall to send a fully fledged army to my castle. My home! The idiots."

"That must not have gone well for them then," Snape said again.

"What is it today Severus? Make-an-understatement day? (Snape rolled his eyes) And to answer your question, no it did not," Harry said with a vicious grin.

Harry suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of that, tell me, what do you know of Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel?"

"Not much. Just the usual. It is said that Nicolas Flamel was the father of alchemy and did much work to contribute at the field. At the later part of his life, he was obsessed with making the Philosopher's stone. He sold his every possession and wealth and invested even his life towards his research. At the end, he couldn't finish his it. His wife abandoned him and he died a lonely man."

As Snape explained, a flicker of sadness passed through Harry's face. He had hoped that he would be able to spend some time with Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel of this world but sadly, they had not survived. Harry had no idea why the Nicolas of here could not make the Philosopher's stone. After all, save for the rarity of the ingredients involved, the formula itself was not that hard. Perhaps he did not have enough funds to pursue its creation? At this point, Harry could only speculate but the only thing that mattered was that Nicolas and Perenelle of this world had not survived their old age in this world.

"So what should we do now?" Snape asked him.

"Hmm.. since we don't have any galleons on us and I have no desire of associating with the goblins, I reckon we should search for a job."

"Job you say?" Severus considered this proposal. They did need gold for sustainance.

"Dumbledore had asked me to teach Potions at Hogwarts," Severus said.

"When was this?"

"A few months back. I was busy with my research of the summoning ritual so I declined. Besides, I have no desire to spend so much time around blithering idiots that the majority of Hogwarts' students are."

"I sense a but coming-"

"But, Dumbledore less asked and more _implied_ that I was to teach his kids. It was only due to my insistence that he allowed me to take a few months leave."

From the way Snape spoke the word, his thoughts on Dumbledore's _proposal_ was quite clear. Crystal clear in fact.

Harry chuckled. If he had learned anything while associating with Snape in his schooldays, it was that the man hated children. But despite that, he was more or less forced to teach by Dumbledore. In truth, it was merely a way to keep close eyes on him.

"I think you should take the job. He did save you from Azkaban did he not? Besides, if you were to be present at Hogwarts, it would make things much easier for me."

Snape raised his eyebrows at that.

"How so?" He asked.

"Remember I told you that I had no way of going back at my own world?"

Snape nodded reluctantly.

"That was true of course, but what I did not tell you is that there is someone who may be able to send me back."

"Who is that?" Snape asked curiously.

"Why, the second coming of Rowena Ravenclaw herself!" Harry said jovially.

Snape eyed him incredulously.

"What? Don't believe me? In fact, she is going to become much greater than Ravenclaw."

"Pardon my.. disbelief," Snape began, "But one would think that such person would not have gone unnoticed by rest of the wizarding population, let alone the Dark Lord. Unless of course, you are talking about Dumbledore himself."

Harry snorted.

"Oh heavens no, Severus. Dumbledore is a great wizard with instinctive understanding of magic but the one I am talking about is much much more knowledgeable than him. As for the reason no one knows about her? Well, it's because she should be a mere toddler at present," Harry finished with a smirk.

Snape was still reluctant to accept Harry's words but far be it from him to question the words of a wizard capable of erasing his Dark mark. That brought him to his next question.

"So you want me to teach then?" Snape concurred.

"Not exactly, no. I know just how bad you are with children. No, Severus, I do not really want you to teach. I was merely pointing out the advantages of you being present at Hogwarts."

Snape looked lost for a moment. Thus, Harry decided to clarify further.

"One: you will no longer be held under any suspicion by Dumbledore. Really, if you do not accept this position, then you will have to live your life in hiding from him.

"Two: it will provide you with lodgings, a substantial amount of gold and easier access to potion ingredients via the Forbidden Forest and apothecaries.

"Three: As I said earlier, it will make things easier for me when the time comes to contact the witch that I spoke of.

"However, you do not have to follow my orders for I have no right to order you around. Accept the position if you want to. Deny it if you do not," Harry concluded.

"But Dumbledore-" Snape began but was interrupted.

"Is a very powerful wizard but believe me when I say, Severus, that if _I_ hide you then not even the combined might of the entire magical population all over the world can find you, let alone a warlock like Dumbledore."

That was a pretty big statement to make, although, when Harry said it, Severus found that he believed it quite easily.

"So.. I can quit whenever I want and Dumbledore won't be able to stop me?"

"Nope. And he won't be able to find you too. Not even Voldemort for that matter," Harry offered.

"The Dark Lord is dead," Snape said blandly.

"Believe it if you must," Harry said in a dismissive manner.

After that, the two of them were quite for a while. Harry was waiting for Snape to answer first while Snape was pondering over the merits and demerits of taking up the Potions post at Hogwarts. A silent minute later, Snape was the first to speak.

"I am yet to complete my Potions mastery and as such, I need a steady amount of income. A teaching position does seem lucrative at the moment even if I have to endure whining brats for a few years."

Harry smiled at his decision.

"A logical decision. One that I have come to expect from you."

Snape then asked, "What will you do in the meanwhile then?"

"Me? Hmm.. I don't really know. As I told you, I too will search for a job. But seeing as I have no NEWTS or OWLS and no desire of forging any documents as of yet, my choices are pretty limited."

Harry was brought out of his musings by a large gathering of people around a building of the Diagon Alley.

He eyed the mass curiously.

"Hey watch it!"

A man said as he bumped into Harry who had just suddenly stopped to eye the crowd.

"Oh, I am quite sorry," he said sincerely.

The man murmured something about blind idiots and then was about to head towards the crowd but was stopped by Harry's question,

"Excuse me, why are people gathered there?"

The man looked irritated at being interrupted and for a moment, Harry thought that he was not going to answer him but then the man turned and said in a tad grumpy voice,

"Don't read the prophet do you? Whatever.. the people are there for tryouts. Chudley Canons have called for fans to tryouts for Chaser and Seeker positions."

Harry looked at the man incredulously.

"Huh? First I've ever heard of a club selecting players like this." Harry muttered with a voice slightly larger than he'd intended.

The man, of course, heard it and snorted, "Yeah, you got that right you did. This is but a publicity stunt by the Canons. What I heard was that there are already the intended players from the junior division mixed up in the crowd. The rest is only for show."

"Heh," Harry drawled, "What happens if someone from the crowd outperforms the intended players then?"

"Not a chance," the man argued, "Weatherby and Tommy are the best players from the Chudley's junior division. Not one in the crowd can match up to them."

With that said, the man turned and left.

Harry, who was now sporting the widest grin that he had in the past century, turned to Snape and said, "Severus, I think I have decided what to do."

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Snape said.

The two of them were in the middle of the queue that had been around for the tryouts.

"Oh don't be such a baby Severus," Harry said, mildly amused.

"Why Quidditch of all things? Can't you do other.. respectable things?" Snape complained.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Quidditch is plenty respectable!" Harry countered, "Besides, it has been quite some time since I have seriously played any Quidditch. This should be fun."

"I sincerely doubt that," Snape said in a wry tone, "As that man said earlier, the intendeds are mixed up in the crowd. I doubt that you could perform better than any player from the junior division, let alone the best."

Harry smirked, "Oh Severus, if only you knew."

After another hour worth of waiting, their turn arrived. Severus politely excused himself saying that he was merely a tag along, while Harry prepared for the tryout for the Seeker position.

The tryouts were being executed in a group of ten. The broom that each group was given was an older model of Comet, which in Harry's humble opinion was a blasphemy to aerodynamics. He even gave a thought about enchanting the broom with his own spell to increase its speed and stability but promptly dropped the idea on the grounds that it would have been too conspicuous.

On the whistle of the club staff, the ten people took off in their Comets and performed a basic Seeker's drill, circling the pitch.

Ragmar Dorkins, the manager of Chudley Cannons for nearly a decade was speaking with his coach from the sidelines.

"Damn PR and their tricks. Remind me again Ross, why did I ever agree with this?"

"Err.. You didn't really boss. They just slipped the paper in between our regular maintenance reports. Hehe.." Ross said with an awkward laughter at the end.

"Damned right they did, or I would have tore down that thrice damned paper and burned it with fiendfyre. Fucking waste of my time it is."

"Now boss, be a good sport will you. Besides, look at the fan that turned up here. It would undoubtedly provide a strong moral support to them," the pudgy coach offered.

Ragmar, who was a lithe man with an intimidating aura around him growled in response, "What would provide a strong moral support to the fans, Ross, is us winning a fucking game. Not this idiotic farce. Look at them, half of them are fucking absymal on top of their brooms. The other three fly as if they are taking their kids on a ride. Tell me, Ross, do you expect to beat the Falcons with that type of flying?"

"No boss. But it's not as if we will take in our team anyway. Tommy is going-"

"to be selected anyway. Yeah yeah. You already told me that about ten times in the last minute. (Ross rolled his eyes) But that's exactly my point isn't it? Why do this idiotic dance if we already have our player. I say stop this tryout, turn all of them back and drag Tommy and Weatherby here and resume our fucking practice session!"

Ross winced slightly at the loud volume of his manager. It was not as if Ross did not understand. With the less than ideal performance of their team for the last century, the only way to maintain the fanbase of the Canons was with stunts like this. Even if they were slightly time-consuming.. or pointless.

"Lighten up boss," he said carefully, "Besides, the two in that group are flying quite well aren't they?"

"Yes they are," Ragmar admitted, "If you are playing for Hogwarts that is. That's enough, call them down," he ordered.

"But boss, they are currently at two laps out of five-"

"I don't care. I have seen enough of them. Call the next team up."

Ross sighed. When Ragmar got like this, there was no arguing with him. He reached out of his pockets for the whistle and was about to blow it but was stopped by something that would change not only his, but the entire Chudley Cannon's time to come.

Up at the broom, Harry had finished gauging the capabilities of his Comet. He was already at the end of the two laps and with three laps remaining, it was time to unleash his true capabilities that had blacklisted him from every major Quidditch league back in his world.

Magic filled the broom up to the brim and it instantly shot out like a rocket. Harry gave a loud shout of joy and pulled his chest to the broom handle, urging his old Comet to the top speed of a yet-to-be-invented Nimbus 2000. He angled his body to the left, making the turn with a fluid arc and maintained it, creating a semi-circle at the end of the pitch. He then raced to the opposite side in less than a second and yet again turned the similar semi circular arc. He shot out again and caught up to the others who were yet to pass the second lap mark. He flew over them, doing a roll with a highly enthusiastic shout and continued onward with his lap.

By the time the others completed their third lap, Harry had already finished his sixth and was still on the process of completing his seventh. He was having way too much fun to keep track of his finished laps. He was stopped though, when, with a feeling of something breaking up, his broom gave out. His speed cut off, he descended slowly towards the ground with a disappointed face. He had wanted to continue flying. Unfortunately, apart from specifically designed alchemical metals, no other medium was able to handle his amount of raw power. At the end, the Comet too, didn't last much than half a minute.

"Wh-What was that! Tell me, Ross! Fucking tell me that you saw that!" Ragmar cried out in alarm.

Ross, meanwhile, was too stunned to respond. Just now, he had seen something impossible. A Comet broom, a decade old Comet broom actually flied at that speed! Not only that, it outflied any and all top of the line broom! Merlin's beard!

"Ross! ROSS!" Ragmar cried out, shocking his coach out of his musings, "Who is he!? I want him Ross! I fucking want him!"

Despite of the suspicious wordings of his manager, Ross full well knew the man's sentiments. The broom's speed was only one part of the performance. What was even more shocking was the flier! Not only had he maneuvered the broom at that speed, but he had done so with such ease, such fluidity that Ross could only count in one hands, the number of professional players who could fly like that.

"What are you waiting for you damn fool! Go and arrange for him to have further trials right now or Merlin so help me, I will curse your generations to come. Run you idiot!" Ragmar cried out.

Ross was only happy to comply as he made his way towards the man who had just descended into the ground.

* * *

Harry's title in his old world were The-Boy-Who-Lived, The-Chosen-One, The-Vanquisher, Order Of Merlin First class, Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, First ever president of S.P.E.W., Youngest head of the DMLE, Star Seeker of 430th Quidditch World Cup and also (through one drunk Ron Weasley) Master Of Death.

That pretty much meant that whenever and wherever he went, without polyjuice potions, he would be mobbed. He couldn't literally take one step into the Diagon Alley without someone spotting him and alerting the bystanders to his presence, thereby ensuing a crowd that would be the nightmare of any Auror. Also, after the particular mishap which lead to his status of Master of Death being known to the world, many up and coming Dark Lords would constantly seek him out and then try to off him in the hopes of acquiring the Death Stick. It would have been interesting, had he not been immune to Death itself (besides, not many Dark Wizard had the presence of mind to use an Expelliarmus when their Killing Curse would not work. Harry was positive that the average Dark Wizard's intelligence had been on a constant decline since Voldemort.)

The Potter incident, as it was named in the subsequent years, happened precisely due to his fame (or infamy, according to Harry). He had been approached by one charity organization which had something to do with the Mugglization of Squibs (whatever that meant), to play a Quidditch match with players from prominent teams from major Irish and British leagues. Harry had, of course, happily agreed. What he had not taken into account though, was the pitch, which had the formidable capacity of hosting about 90,000 witches and wizards, being mobbed by angry crowd who had not been lucky enough to secure the tickets for that game. A stampede that had ensued during the ongoing game had claimed the life of more than a thousand witches and wizards including some of the children. And that was the last time Harry had ever played professional Quidditch. His fame (or infamy) had literally robbed him of any chances of playing his favorite sport with some of the best players of the game.

But now that Harry found himself in a new world, new doors opened for him. He could finally play quidditch with the rest of the world! Of course, that was if he could pass the trial that is.

After his performance at the tryouts, the coach of the Chudley Cannons, one Ross Villager had approached him and had asked him to a stay for a much more private Seeker tryouts for the Chudley Cannons.

"Of course I will stay.. But, you will have to provide for lunch!" Harry had agreed on that condition. The coach agreed too. After all, it was only fair to provide a man with food when one asked him to stay for the afternoon.

After a rather sumptuous meal at the buffet for both him as well as Snape, Harry found himself at a different Quidditch pitch than before. Apparently, the advertised trial could not be abandoned.

"This is Nimbus 83. The state of the art. Your further trials would be conducted with this broom, Mr. Flamel," Ross said.

Harry accepted the broom and casually examined it.

"Much better than that last junk of a broom," he remarked.

"Ah yes, the old Comet 30. Forgive us for that. With the type of people that turned up for the tryouts, we thought it would not be prudent not to bring out the more recent brooms. Not like that stopped you though," Ross remarked.

Harry smiled at that. Severus, who somehow too was present at the pitch raised his eyebrows. He hadn't been present at the initial tryout and had missed Harry's performance (one of the reason that Harry dragged him to this one).

"So, let us begin then," Harry said.

With that, the second (and actual) trial began. Curiously, Harry was not alone in this one. With him was one Tommy Randal, seeker of Chudley junior division. He too was trying out for the position.

Tommy looked mildly irritated at having to do a try out. Considering that before Harry's demonstration, his position at the team was more or less confirmed, his being miffed was justified too.

"Alright boys, take to the air on my whistle. We will begin with five laps around the pitch."

Five laps around the stands were pretty standard for any position. On the coach's whistle, the two of them took off from the ground and began circling the pitch.

For the first lap, Harry merely tried out this new broom to get a feel. This time, he needed only a single lap for that. By the end of the first lap, Tommy was slightly ahead of him. But that all changed when Harry finished his lap. He pumped his magic to the broom and urged it to speed up. His instant change acceleration promptly gave him the lead, which only increased with each passing moment.

His curves were fluid and graceful and he even managed to perform some exotic moves on the broom, not to mention he finished the last lap upside down while his opponent Tommy was on the start of his fourth lap.

"Fantastic!" the coach Ross cried out. Even Tommy couldn't help himself but be impressed at Harry's speed and performance.

"I would have never thought that the Nimbus could pick up that speed and still remain maneuverable!" Tommy said in a daze.

"You are partially right there," Harry said, "It's a pain to turn it at those speed. It takes quite the skill."

The way he said suggested a hint of arrogance, but Harry couldn't help bragging a little. He was just having that much fun.

"Alright, the next drill then."

The next drill entailed bludgers. Lots of them. This drill was quite simple though. They had to dodge the bludgers while catching a small ball like projectile hurled from one end of the pitch by the pitch officials. Thirty such balls were banished at different parts of the pitch. Harry moved his broom swiftly, dancing between the incoming bludgers and managed to catch twenty five of the balls at the end. He would have caught even more but he was taking it easy.

Learning from the failure of the early Comet, Harry was constantly suppressing his magic to not break the broom. As such, his broom speed was comparable to one Nimbus 1995 at the moment. Still, at times he would lose his focus and end up accelerating his brooms to speed comparable to the Nimbus 2000. This was a problem but for the life of him, Harry couldn't bring himself to care. He was enjoying this trial and any worrying would have to come later.

As the drill ended, Tommy was now pretty sure that his opponent was way out of his league. Hell, if he did not qualify for the position then Tommy didn't know who could.

"Amazing Mr. Flamel!" The coach said with a wide grin, "that was some pretty good flying you did there!"

"Thanks coach!" Harry smiled, "Tommy flew well too. Still, you grip your broom a little tightly while turning right. Handle that one problem and you'd fly even well!"

Tommy smiled a little. He didn't know about that flaw and even his coach hadn't spotted it. But, it looked like a good advice and Tommy would certainly work on it.

"Thanks Mr. Flamel," Tommy said good naturedly.

Harry grinned. He had worried that the kid would be a little bitter due to Harry outperforming him but evidently that was not the case. He did feel a little bad about snatching his assured position but Harry decided he would make it up to the kid some time later. "Now let's go for the last drill shall we?" He said while looking at the coach.

"No need for that," Tommy said, "I forfeit, coach. Mr. Flamel is clearly superior than me. I recommend him for the position."

Ross beamed. He too was convinced after the second tryout that this was one player that the Cannons absolutely couldn't afford to lose. And he also worried that Tommy wouldn't take the news of his rejection lightly but as he himself offered up the seat, things became a lot easier for Ross.

"Alright, good decision Tommy. But don't you worry. We will certainly consider you for the reserve position, Gudgeon is getting old after all."

Ross then turned towards Harry, "Mr. Flamel, we will draw a contract in a few minutes. You can go over it and tomorrow we can sign as well as finalize your position on the Cannons. Unofficially, I welcome you to Chudley Cannons as seeker. Congratulations!"

"Thanks coach. I will meet you tomorrow then. Also, please do me a favor and do not alert the press about you hiring a new seeker, okay? I just don't want too much attention."

"Of course, Mr. Flamel. We'll do that. See you tomorrow then. And once again, congratulations. I am sure that with you in the team, we have a legit shot at winning the league."

And with that, their meeting was concluded. Harry waited for a while for the contract that the Cannons had drawn. It came only a while later. They had just replaced Tommy's name and made a few alterations. With a seeker contract in tow, Harry walked out with Snape in tow.

* * *

Albus Percivial Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was pacing up and down in his office. Normally, the old headmaster was the epitome of a calm and patient wizard. With a solid occlumency to organize his mind, there were only a few things that could unsettle him, Dark Lords being one of them.

Albus had a bit of bad luck when it came to Dark Lords. Two prominent Dark Lords had emerged during his life and he had come to face off with both of them, defeating one of them and fending off the other for more than a few times. Of course, this shouldn't be anything surprising considering that he himself was a powerful wizard and people looked up to him to do something about mad wizards hell bent on controlling the entire magical population but really, why couldn't powerful wizards just mind their own business and spend their life in peace and take a teaching position at a reputable institution and become old and barmy just like him. Why must they go Dark? Moreover, why must they rampage in his continent. Continents like Asia, Africa, hell, even Australia sounded more exotic and more in taste for wizards of a Dark nature. At least then Albus wouldn't have to go out of his way to fight with them. Alas, life was never that simple.

Dumbledore's reason for pacing up and down today wasn't really any Dark Wizard though. Due to one self fulfilling prophecy, Tom had gone and incapacitated himself while trying to kill the little Neville Longbottom and the wizarding Britain was finally gaining some semblance of peace. Hogwarts was flourishing with the influx of students from all over the world, Death Eaters were more or less neutralized, Quidditch leagues were about to start.. All in all, life was almost becoming normal again. Well, there were a few abnormalities of course. Like the sudden miraculous healing of one Lily Potter. The poor woman who had been Crucioed to the brink of insanity. However, that was a happy abnormality and far be it from Albus to meddle his old nose to something that had brought love back into the life of one of his trusted Order member (even if he was burning from curiosity over the possible causes of it). No, that was not the abnormality that had Albus scared for the first in many years. It was rather the news from the Department of Mysteries.

Approximately eighteen hours ago the DoM had registered a massive surge of magic that had threatened the stability of reality itself. In a swift move from the usually bureaucratic ministry (perhaps due to DoM being involved), teams of aurors as well as some unspeakables had been dispatched to the site only to let the perpetrators get away from their hands. From the memories of some of the aurors (which DoM had reluctantly shared with the Chief Warlock), Dumbledore had seen the apparition of the aurors and the instant conjuration of one magical shield that Dumbledore had not thought was possible. Gold shield, really?

Still, even if he didn't know the type of shield, he had an idea about the magic prowess required to conjure something that could withhold dozens of strong curses hurled by the most competent of the Aurors (some even bordering in a Dark territory). Only seconds after that, the shield and both of the perpetrators had vanished right under the nose of that many Aurors. That in itself was a shame for the DMLE, but what was even more ridiculous was that the Aurors had found no sign of any magical transport phenomenon. Even Dumbledore, while travelling via Fawkes' apparition, would leave some trace of his magic (not to mention a lot of soot), so essentially the lack of any magical trace meant that the perpetrators had vanished from existence. Not only had they enough power to block continuous barrage of Auror spells but they also had a method to vanish themselves from reality. This could only spell trouble for the old headmaster, hence, his cause for worry.

Dumbledore was abruptly stopped from his pacing by the appearance of a rather meek looking house elf.

"Yes, Tanny?" Dumbledore tried asking with his kindest voice but it increased the shivering of the poor creature.

"Your professorship sir, I is bringing you a letter," the elf said and then deposited the three letters at his desk. Due to his office being inaccesible to owls, his mail often were intercepted at the owlery and then delivered by house elves.

Dumbledore dismissed the house-elf, wondering over whether his beard made him look more intimidating to the house elves, and then picked up the letters to read.

"Hmm.. Cornelius writes again," he eyed the letter with a tad bit of irritation. The newly appointed minister was beginning to get on his nerves with the number of letters that he was sending to him including advice for whether white toiletries would be a better fit for the minister bathrooms (really?). Tossing the letter to one of his not-important stack where he may or may not read it later, Dumbledore shuffled over other letters. Wizengamont session invitation, Witch weekly's monthly subscription (his one guitly pleasure), and oh, what was this? A letter by one Severus Snape! The last time that the headmaster had talked to his former student, Snape had insisted for some time to himself before agreeing to teach "dunderheads". Albus had given him the time, of course. The man was visibly distraught over the unfortunate incident with Lily Potter.

He opened the letter and read its contents.

 _Headmaster,_

 _I wish to meet you at your earliest convenience to discuss the employment terms that you had offered me (of course, only if the offer stands still). Owl me with your reply._

 _SS_

Dumbledore smiled over that letter. He quickly penned a reply asking for Severus to meet him tomorrow and dispatched it with another house elf, all the while thinking about the odds of Lily Potter recovering and Severus Snape applying for the position he'd avoided for so long after a short while. Looking underneath the underneath was Dumbledore's forte afterall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Remus Lupin was an excellent wizard. In fact, excellent was a tad bit of understatement when it came to him. After all, he had ten OWLS and eight NEWTS - indicator of a very high academic performance. Apart from that, Lupin was also one of the co-creators of the Marauder's Map - an artifact capable of tapping into the Hogwarts wards' schematic and mapping the presence of witches and wizards on it - a feat deserving of a mastery in charms. Of course, it was not solely Lupin who had created it but the main research and enchantments that went into the creation of the map was due to him. All in all, his accomplishments were enough to warrant an excellent job at the ministry for anyone but him.. or his kind.

Sadly, the magical population of not only Britain but all over the world did not take too kindly to those afflicted with Lycanthropy. Bluntly put, if all werewolves were to somehow die overnight, the magical population would throw out a party that would rival that of the day celebrated after the demise of the Dark Lord Voldemort. Yep, it was that bad. Incurring direct hate and loathing of the wizard-kind aside, being a werewolf posed another more serious problem. It was extremely hard to get a job for a werewolf.

In fact, it was nigh impossible to cross the threshold of any respectable shop in Diagon Alley without the Lycanthropy ward alerting the owner that a werewolf had entered their shop. Thus, the only place that one like Lupin could ever shop at was the rather infamous Knockturn Alley. At least, the people there did not install wards to _discourage_ werewolves or vampires. They did overcharge them though. Preying on the weak and stuff like that.

A sad smile crossed the face of Lupin as he just remembered his latest interview. It was another shop of the Knockturn Alley and he rather had a good feeling about it. _Had_ being the key word. The owner of the quite infamous Hag's Breath had, after recognizing Lupin, refused to even hear a single word of his. That would have been understandable if it had not been that particular bar, seeing as most of its customers were shady types and hiring a werewolf to the establishment wasn't that big of a deal. No, the man had not refused to listen to him because he was a werewolf. Rather, it was because he was a werewolf that associated with the wrong sorts of people. Or at least the owner thought so.

It was well known in the Knockturn Alley that one werewolf by the name of Remus Lupin was a known member of the Order of the Phoenix. Actually, it was meant to be a secret but a rather unfortunate incident involving Mundungnus Fletcher had brought that little tidbit of information to light. And Remus' life had changed after that. Well, more than before that is. Now the inhabitants of Knockturn wouldn't dare risk the wrath of the darker wizards, noticiably the infamous Fenrir Greyback, by providing him a sanctuary. And Diagon Alley was against him from the start. Essentially, Lupin was now shunned by both light and dark shades of the magical population. If that was not unfair, then Lupin didn't know what was.

Regardless, getting his mood down wouldn't do. He had to find a job after all. He had performed the duty of the Order one last time by attempting to bring the werewolf population to the peace talks with Dumbledore (as the ministry won't hear any of it). Now, he was back to his living his own life and a job was essential for him. Of course, Sirius and James had argued with him, multiple times, to take their money. They were quite rich after all. Sirius had been particularly passionate about it but no, Lupin couldn't, wouldn't, take their gold. His pride wouldn't allow him to.

Which brought him to present. What should he do now? Diagon Alley was off limits as always. Greyback had still a bit of nasty reputation, so Knockturn was off limits. Yep, that left only one choice for him. The muggle world. At least there he wouldn't find any form of prejudice against Dark wizards. Still, he would need a degree for it, wouldn't he? Nowadays, even the menial of jobs in the muggle population required a respectable sort of background. While it would be extremely easy to slip in an innocent confundus but his morals would never allow him to do that.

He was brought out of his musings by an unexpected collision,

"I am so sorry!" Remus said hastily, only to stop stupefied as he saw the one with who he had collided.

"It's alright," the blonde man with the eyes of the deepest blue that Remus had ever seen, said in a dismissive manner. The man looked awfully familiar to him. As if he should know who he was. But for the life of him Remus couldn't remember him. No, he would've known if he had ever met this stranger before. Being a werewolf had enhanced his nose to the keenest level and Remus remembered people from both sight, sound as well as smell. Thus, Remus concluded, it was his first time meeting this stranger. However, the man that accompanied him, now him Remus couldn't forget. Nor could he forgive.

"YOU!" He cried out at Severus Snape, wand at his hand.

"Hello.. wolf," Snape sneered.

Remus blanched. Snape was one of the few who knew his secrets and boy had that ever been the scandal. Snape had nearly lost his life due to a poor prank done by Sirius.

"Snape! How dare you show your face to me after betraying Lily and James!" Remus was getting rather loud about his argument and Knockturn Alley was not the sort of place to do so. But he was a little too angry to take care about this sort of thing.

A blank look passed through Snape's features at the mention of Lily and James and just for a split second, Remus could swear that he'd heard a phoenix cry somewhere. The moment passed though, and Snape's face settled to normalcy and the phoenix cry vanished as well to the point that Remus dismissed it as an illusion (rather conveniently).

"Err.. This your friend Severus?" Harry said in a carefully measured voice. He meant to give a genuine first meeting vibe to his words and if he may say so himself, he was rather successful at it.

Remus was brought out of his anger temporarily by the new voice. For a moment, he had lost himself in rage at Severus Snape which was quite out of character for him. Of all the four marauders, Remus was known for his analytical thinking and cool mind.. which, he thought to himself, was betraying him at the moment. The cause being a particular greasy haired person with an affinity for potions (and Dark Arts).

It was after the incident in which Lily lost her sanity for a full year that Dumbledore had explained the existence of the prophecy to both Potters and Longbottoms as well as Sirius and Lupin. He had explained, how a lady from a line of seers who had met him for an interview for Divination post at Hogwarts had, out of nowhere, given a prophesy detailing how two children born at the end of the seventh month to those who had thrice defied the Dark Lord would ultimately be the one to vanquish him. He had also reluctantly revealed the role of Severus Snape who had intruded upon the said interview and carried an incomplete prophesy to Voldemort himself.

That session with Dumbledore had been enlightening, to say the least, for the Potters, Longbottoms and the remaining two marauders. Not only had they known the reason Dumbledore had insisted upon the hiding of the two families, but also why the Dark Lord himself had tried to kill the little Neville Longbottom, as well as why the remaining Death Eaters had banded up and attacked the Godric's Hollow, incapacitating Lily for an entire year.

Understandably, James had been furious. For a brief moment, he had wanted nothing more than Snape's blood and Dumbledore had to personally intervene and intimidate James out of his bloodlust. Dumbledore had argued that Snape was a changed man and had he not delivered the intentions of Voldemort, both of their families would have been wiped out much earlier than that fated night. He had been rather insistent on giving Severus a second chance but Remus, James as well as Sirius, none would ever forgive him for what he had done. After all, Snape was the sole reason behind the Dark Lord deliberately targeting both Longbottoms as well as Potters. Snape had managed to fool Dumbledore but the marauders won't be so forgiving. Not after the fate that Lily had to go through.

"We.. are acquainted, yes." Snape said in his usual drawl, snapping Remus out of his darker thoughts.

"Is that so?" Harry asked innocently, "Seemed to me as if you two were quite the friends."

Both Snape and Lupin lost their bearings for a bit. Friends? Hah! Had it been a secluded place, Remus would have cursed first and asked later.

He calmed himself. It wouldn't do good to him to lose reason in front of one dangerous and one unknown entity.

"And you are?" Lupin asked the said unknown entity, wand still firmly held in his hands.

"Oh, pardon me. I am Harry Flamel. A friend of Severus."

Remus' eye darted to Harry's right wrist following the statement, no doubt in search of a rather hideous tattoo.

"And that was pretty rude," Harry mock admonished him. It pained him a little to see Remus so distrusting of him.

Wariness didn't leave Remus' face. Better safe than polite; the war had taught him.

"I have never seen you around here," Remus said.

"Well, that's because I am new around here. _I am French you see,_ " He said the latter part in a perfect French, "With your Dark Lord gone and Britain becoming safer, I have come here to try my luck."

"Oh," Remus said, "Well, in that case, I wish you best of luck. Although," he glanced at Snape, "it might be best for you to not associate with some people."

Harry frowned at him. This was like Malfoy. Remus wasn't supposed to be like Malfoy.

"As for you Severus," Lupin said in an eerily cold voice, "it'd be best if you avoid us in the future. James and Sirius won't be so patient as I am. A good day to you gentlemen."

Not wanting to remain in the same place as Snape, lest he lose himself and end up cursing him, Lupin hastily walked away.

"Your friends are quite.. interesting, aren't they Severus?"

Snape scoffed, "That wolf isn't my friend. Besides, had you looked at him carefully, you would have seen his wand at his hands, ready to curse me at a moment's notice."

"Oh I did see it, but what matters more is that he didn't actually do anything. Makes me think that you two have the potential of becoming friends."

"I don't want to be friends with that wolf," Snape said vehemently, "Did you know that he nearly killed me?"

"Again, what matters more is-"

"that he didn't kill me, yes. Pardon me if I still hold the grudge," he spat.

"Grudges frudges. Things of old do not really matter. You must make an effort and forgive him. And it wasn't as if he could control himself." Harry explained.

"Exactly my point. Mindless beasts are dangerous to health."

"But, he is only mindless for one night of an entire month. You could become his friend for the rest of the period, can't you?"

Snape looked at Harry with heavy curiosity, "I am confused. I don't really understand your insistence on me befriending that wolf."

"What can I say? I am an advocate of making friends. Specially when it comes to you. You see, I have a theory that they can cure you of your.. less than mature behavior?"

Snape sneered, "I am plenty mature."

"Performing a ritual which could potentially kill thousands of people in an instant isn't exactly the definition of mature," Harry said.

Snape was effectively shut off by that. He did attempt such a ritual. Though, he would argue, he was in total control of that thus lives were never in danger. Still, that was particularly risky. And now that he thought about that,

"I remember why I summoned you.. and what transpired that night," Snape said slowly.

Harry, for his part, looked a little surprised.

"I had thought that you would eventually remember it. However, I must confess that I never thought it would be so soon. Did meeting Remus trigger something?"

"Yes," Snape said thoughtfully.

"So? How are you feeling about that?" Harry asked carefully. This was a significant change and Harry was worried how Snape would react to that.

"Nothing. Although, I can't understand why I risked that ritual for that insignificant mudbl-."

"Language Severus," Harry said a little menacingly.

"I mean, muggleborn. It seems strange now that she would drive me to such desperation as to attempt such a vague and potentially dangerous ritual. Truth be told, I don't really know how I survived."

Harry smiled. "Congratulations Severus. It seems that you now have the full control of your.. err.. mental faculties. And yes, it is indeed strange that you survived the summoning. But as I said, it was magic itself that helped you. I advise you not to dwell much on it."

"Yes. Also.." Snape hesitated.

"Go on."

"I.. sometimes.. I feel empty. This horrible feeling of cold takes over me and it feels as if I have a large part of me missing. But then-"

"A phoenix song reverberates inside of you?" Harry offered.

Snape looked genuinely surprised. "Yes."

Harry smiled sadly, "That is one side-effect of your sacrifice. Believe me when I say that you genuinely gave up your love for her. Broadly speaking, every positive emotion that you ever felt for her is now lost to you.

"Man is a product of his feelings, Severus. By offering up your love for her, you have ended up giving a bit of yourself to Lily. The cold and the emptiness that you feel, it's due to you missing those feelings. A bit like being in presence of a Dementor, isn't it?"

Snape looked thoughtful at that. "And the phoenix?"

"That," Harry said gesturing the right hand that sported the image of the glorious phoenix, "is my doing. What? You don't think I gave you that just for show?" Harry grinned.

"That mark is the conduit via which I cast a very nifty bit of soul magic on you. A magic which was developed by yours truly. Believe it or not, it was originally designed to counter the effects of the presence of Dementors. In your case though, I have modified it to stimulate your remaining positive emotions whenever you feel the emptiness due to your loss. Also, it has a healing effect on one's soul. Quite a marvelous piece of magic, if I say so myself."

One would think that an aged wizard would be the definition of humility. Clearly, Severus thought, the one before him didn't exactly fit that image.

"Humility becomes you," said Snape.

Harry snorted.

"Severus," Harry said in a small voice, "Do you regret what you did?"

Snape thought about it for a moment. He now understood that he had given up a huge sacrifice that left him horribly empty inside. Yet, for some reason, he did not feel regret.

"No, I do not. I feel strange, yes, that I would do so much for that mud.. muggleborn girl. However, for whatever reasons, I do not really feel regret. Is it weird that I feel so?" Snape asked.

"Who knows," Harry shrugged, "Soul is a very complicated construct you know. Thousands upon thousands have tried and failed miserably to understand the entity that we call soul. Not even I, or Perenelle - my instructor of the soul magic - has truly understood its mechanics.

"I can, however, say that it is good that you do not feel any regret."

"Why?" Severus asked.

"Because what you have lost, Severus, there is no way to bring it back," Harry smiled sadly.

* * *

At one particular place in Britain, Godric's Hollow stood tall. The house had been in the Potter family for a long long time and as a result, the wards surrounding the house were one of the most complex in the entire magical Britain, inferior only to the likes of Gringotts and Hogwarts. The wards not only protected the house from magical attacks, they also prohibited Dark Creatures from taking a single step inside the perimeter. All but one.

Lupin walked inside the house as he had done all these years. He was one of the few whom the wards provided unconditional access to. Waiting inside the house were his best friends, the remnants of the marauders and Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Hello Remus," Dumbledore greeted him with a small nod.

"Hello Albus," Remus greeted back. Albus Dumbledore was one of the few people who Remus respected with his very heart. After all, had it not been for him, Lupin would never had the chance to study at Hogwarts.

"Back from job hunt?" Dumbledore asked.

"Sirius told you?"

"Yes.. Forgive me, my boy. To see one such as you struggle to find a job really breaks my heart." Dumbledore had really meant that. Remus Lupin was the brightest wizard of his generation, comparable to Lily Potter and Severus Snape, the potions prodigy.

"It is not your fault, Albus. Besides, I found a job at the other side." He meant the muggle world. "It is not much but it would do for now."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Moony!" A voice that belonged to Sirius Black emerged from inside the house, which was followed by the emergence of the man himself. Sirius Black was a handsome man, if the Witches' Weekly's list of top ten most eligible bachelors was to be believed. His regal appearance, bestowed due to the noble line of the Black, sporting a roguish smile was a certified heart breaker. What few knew, however, was that there was another kind of smile that Sirius had. One that he only showed when in presence to his friends and when he was truly happy. One that he was showing right now.

"How went your job hunt?" He asked.

"It went fine Sirius. I got hired by a construction company-"

"You went muggle?" Sirius asked with genuine surprise.

"Yes," Lupin said with a small sigh. He knew how the conversation would progress.

"But Moony! You are a wizard! You should be working at a prestigious magical institution. Hell, you would qualify for Minister of Magic itself! Why would you go muggle?"

Lupin looked at Sirius as if to say, 'Are you joking?'

Sirius, too, seemed to realize the error in his question. "Of course," he spat, "fucking hypocrites. Sorry headmaster," he added after remembering that the two of them were not alone.

"That's quite alright, my boy. In fact, I myself was thinking along the same line, albeit with a little politeness," Albus chuckeled.

"Never mind that Sirius, where are Lily and James?"

Lupin deliberately changed the subject, knowing that if Sirius was allowed, he would rant on and on about the unfairness of Lupin's constitution. He didn't really want to listen to it at the moment.

"They are inside, tucking in Rose. I swear, prongs is treating Lily as if she were made of porcelain, You should have been here earlier Moony, he was even refusing to let her go to the bathroom unattended. Only when Lily threatened to hex his bits off to Tibet did he let go."

Remus laughed at the mental picture. It was understandable that James wouldn't let go of Lily after all this time but he was pushing it a bit.

As if on cue, James and Lily both came out into the living room.

"Moony, how went your job hunt?" James asked the same question as Sirius. Remus groaned, anticipating the conversation that would follow. Much like Sirius, James too was a bit sensitive when it came to his furry little problem.

"Can you believe it Prongs?" Sirius said, "Moony, our Moony went muggle!"

"Really?" James asked.

"Yeah," Remus said with a small smile.

"Why the pureblooded bigots of wizards! You should be running for fucking Minister of Magic, not running off to a muggle job! Oh, sorry headmaster (Albus chuckeled again)."

"Exactly what I said," Sirius exclaimed with a grin.

James would have contributed even more scathing remarks about the bigotry that ran rampart in the upper echelon of the magical community had it not been for Lily interrupting.

"Well I think that it is wonderful that you got a job, Moony," she said with a genuine smile that somehow lightened up the entire room.

Looking at Lily now, it was almost impossible to believe that she went through that year long horrible ordeal. Right now, she was the perfect picture of health, with her vibrant red hair and alive emerald eyes. She was the Lily that everyone knew and loved.

"Hello Lily," Remus greeted her with a smile of his own, "How have you been?"

"Oh I am quite alright Remus. In fact, I feel like running a marathon or something," she answered.

"What's a marathon?" Sirius asked.

Lily sighed. Leave it to the pureblood prince of the marauders to not know about a marathon. Thankfully, Remus explained it to him.

"So, you are saying that muggles go into these long runs? It's stupid." Sirius observed.

"Exactly what I said to her earlier," James concurred.

"Honestly, I don't know which one of you is worse," said Lily, "Anyway, what I meant was, I feel really really healthy."

"Oh.." Remus began, "Err.. James.. did you.."

"Filled her in, you mean?" James asked rhetorically, "Yeah. Honestly, she took it a lot better than I'd thought."

Indeed, after James had managed to contain his rampant emotions around Lily, he had explained to her in detail about her being afflicted by the prolonged Cruciatus curse. And Lily really did take it quite better. Sad though she was for missing an entire year with James and Rose, it went away soon enough once she held Rose again.

"James, Lily, may I?" Albus interjected. The four of them had just about forgot the existence of the Headmaster inside the room. Not that Dumbledore minded. This was a happy occasion for all of them and Dumbledore knew that he was not exactly wanted in here. Still, he had a diagnosis to perform.

"Albus, do you really need to do it?" James asked with a small frown. The healers at St. Mungos had pointed and prodded Lily enough for a lifetime. Had it not been Dumbledore asking, James would have never agreed to performing yet another diagnosis on her.

"I am sorry, my boy. An old man's curiosity knows no bound. It is a simple spell though, I assure you that I would leave you all afterwards," he said sincerely.

"Really, it's okay James," Lily answered for her husband, "Go on Albus."

Dumbledore thanked her for her permission and proceeded to enunciate an old Egyptian spell. A green glow left his elder wand and wrapped Lily around. The spell remained for but a few seconds after which, it died out.

Unbeknownst to the others, the spell that Dumbledore had used was one of the few spells that had its root in necromancy. Specifically, it was used to diagnose one's soul. It relayed the diagnosis as a visual information directly to Dumbledore's brain. That is to say, he would get a glimpse of whoever the spell had enshrouded. Of course, it was a rather crude way of saying it for no one could really perceive the soul.

When used to diagnose the soul of a rather Dark wizard, it would show the taint in his being due to the abuse of the Dark arts. What Dumbledore saw, when he used the spell at Lily's soul was the purest color of white, which should have been impossible. It suggested that there was not even a touch of Darkness in her soul. Nobody's soul was that pure, excluding the newborns.

"Lily," he said after thinking for a while, "Can I trouble you to cast a patronus?"

The request came out of nowhere. Regardless, Lily was cleared to do magic by the healers and patronus was a simple enough spell. She brought her wand forward and thought of her wedding day. Incredible joy filled her heart as she recalled her union with James. In a clear voice, she spoke,

"Expecto Patronum."

And the room went white. Such was the brightness of the doe which she conjured that every single one of the wizard present at the room was forced to close their eyes. Lily, for her part, was ecstatic. The spell filled her with indescribable joy, as if she were living that very moment.

"Lily, end the spell," Dumbledore said. He too was shielding his eyes from the brightest patronus he had ever seen.

Lily was brought back from her happiness by Dumbledore's words. She ended the spell quickly afterwards.

"Whoa! What was that!" Sirius exclaimed, rubbing his eyes.

"Amazing," Remus said in awe.

James too, was stupefied. He had witnessed Lily's patronus before but never did he recall it being so bright and majestic.

"Albus! What was that?" He asked the only person in the room who could give an explanation to Lily's incredible patronus.

"It is what I thought," Albus said thoughtfully, "Tell me Lily, did the spell come easily to you?"

"Yes!" Lily said with excitement, "It was surprisingly easy. Even the emotions for the spell came easily enough. As if being happy was only natural."

"What does this mean, Albus?" Remus asked.

"I don't really know," Albus explained, "I do, however, have a conjecture."

"Well.. Don't keep us waiting then," Sirius said.

"I believe that whatever healed Lily back from that state has, how should I put it, nourished her soul. Yes, it's as if something has cleansed her very being of the affliction. Not many know, but the Cruciatus is a crude form of soul magic. I had thought at first that the damage to her soul must have been little, for she did manage to wake up, and her magic had somehow healed itself. Clearly, I was wrong. It was not that the damage she sustained was small, no, someone has healed it with very potent magic. Only, I have no idea how he could have done so."

The room became quiet following his explanation. After the initial excitement of Lily's miraculous recovery had subsided, the marauders had brainstormed about the possible cause of the said recovery. However, their theories had soon run out and seeing as even the experts of St. Mungos were clueless, they had given up on guessing the cause.

But now that Dumbledore implied that someone had healed her, it became an entire different matter.

"Who could have done that?" James asked to no one in particular.

"It must have been someone from St. Mungos itself. They are the specialist in healing in the entire world," Remus reasoned.

Albus shook his head.

"No, Remus, whoever did it has the knowledge of the arcane magic, in particular the soul magic that I can not even begin to fathom. I highly doubt that such individual works at St. Mungos."

Had Dumbledore not performed the soul diagnosis spell, he would have conveniently linked Lily's recovery to his to-be potions instructor. After all, love and remorse were the strongest motivations that one could possibly have and Snape was a once-in-a-lifetime potions prodigy. But now that he had performed the necromantic spell, that notion flew off from his mind. Talented Snape may be, but this type of healing was clearly beyond him.

The mood of the room had turned sombre and Sirius refused to let it linger any longer.

"I say, we should not trouble ourselves unnecessarily. It's not as if the man is a Dark Wizard, right? He did heal Lily after all!" Sirius exclaimed.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful at that and identifying Sirius' plan of lifting the spirits, he decided to play along.

"Indeed, you are correct there Sirius. I highly doubt that anyone with Darker tendencies can find it in their abilities to cast such a miraculous healing spell."

Dumbledore's word cut through the tense mood of the room and others let out a breathe that they didn't realize they'd been holding. The war had just finished and magical Britain was slowly starting to rebuild itself. Had there been an indication of a powerful Dark wizard lingering around, the entire nation would beset in panic. Thankfully, Dumbledore's assurances were more than enough to placate those inside the room.

"On that note, I would now ask your permission to leave, James, Lily. Thanks for indulging this old man in his curiosities."

Dumbledore nodded to the other two wizards present in the room and turned towards the floo. None in the room were aware of the internal emotions of the master occlumens for even though he had assured the marauders outwardly, he himself was not so confident of the mysterious wizard's intentions. One thing was for sure though, he would not make the mistake that he made with young Tom Riddle. If this wizard were to show even the smallest hint of being Dark, Dumbledore would not hesitate to act, not when the peace of the magical Britain was at stake, not when the greater good was at stake.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Ah, Mr. Flamel, you are here!"

Ross Villager, the coach of Chudley Cannons greeted Harry pleasantly as soon as he had placed his foot inside the Cannons' office.

"Good morning, coach!" said Harry enthusiastically.

It was a little presumptous of him to address the man in such manner, but truth be told, he was quite excited about the entire affair.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Flamel. Let me introduce you to our manager, Ragmar Dorkins," said Ross while motioning towards the man beside him.

"Hello Mr. Dorkins, I am-"

"Harry Flamel, yes I know. Ross has said much about you. Of course, I will have to withhold my opinion until I see your play myself," Ragmar said. With his stoic disposition, the words were meant to be a little intimidating. However, it had the opposite effect on Harry.

"Oh? Then I was mistaken about you spying on the tryouts from the balconies? Apologies," Harry said with mock sincerety.

Ragmar blushed a bit in embarrassment. He had not known that Harry had noticed him in the tryouts. Incidentally, not even Ross had noticed him as Ragmar was supposed to be supervising the remaining applicants in the open tryouts. That was the reason why a chuckle escaped his lips. However, a stern stare from Ragmar was enough for the chuckle to die out.

"Ahem, yes, yes of course, you are correct. I only managed to observe you at the end though," Ragmar said in an attempt to preserve his digntiy. Thankfully, Harry let him.

"Of course, Mr. Dorkins," He said with a smile.

"So, am I correct in presuming that you have read and understood the contract and are willing to sign it?" Ragmar said while doing his utmost to hide his eagerness. He had observed Harry fly and he would be damned before he let him slip from his hands.

"I have read the contract, yes. And I am willing to sign it," Harry began.

"Wonderful!" Ragmar exclaimed despite of himself, "Ahem, I mean, it's wonderful that you agree. I am sure that you would enjoy here at Chudley Cannons."

Harry let out a small smile of amusement on his face. Apparently, the manager was much more excited than he himself.

"As I was saying, I am willing to sign the contract. But I have a very small condition."

Ragmar stiffened. As he had feared, a player like Harry would not settle for the small amounts that the contract offered. He cursed himself for not increasing the price on the first place.

"We will double the-"

"Gold is not the problem, Manager," Harry said with a small smile of amusement, "Although, I will not object if you do decide to double my pay."

One could swear that there was a twinkle in Harry's eyes when he said that.

Ragmar and Ross exchanged an awkward look but before they could communicate further, Harry spoke again,

"No, Manager, my condition.. a request actually, is that I be allowed to keep my appearance a secret."

"Huh?"

Ragmar said eloquently. It took a bit of time for Harry's words to sink in.

"Did I just hear you say that you be allowed to keep your appearance a secret?" Ross, the coach, asked.

"Yes," Harry replied jovially.

"But why?" This time it was Ragmar who had asked, "Mr. Flamel, although I do not swing that way, I assure you that your appearance is quite fetching. At least, there is nothing that you should be ashamed of."

"Yes, yes, in fact, I would wager that before long you would have admirers swooning all over you, especially those of the fairer kind," Ross added.

"And that, gentlemen, is precisely why I want my looks to be a secret. I have a rather bad experience with fame you see. I will play for your club, not only that, I will get you victories.. I just don't want to show myself much," Harry said.

Ragmar excused himself and Ross for a bit and took his coach to a corner.

"Ross, can it be done?" Ragmar asked.

"I don't know boss.. There is no magic allowed on the field except for the brooms, the rules make it pretty clear. That would mean no glamours and no polyjuice. Apart from that, I don't think there is much that prevents what he is asking for." Ross replied.

The two then went back up to Harry.

"As much as your request appalls me, Mr. Flamel, I believe that we can allow for that. Only, we can not use any magic on the field." Ragmar explained.

"So that would mean no polyjuice and no glamours, right?" Harry supplied.

"Yes," said Ross, "But if you can think anything else apart from those two options, we can allow you to use those."

"Brilliant," said Harry.

"But what are you going to do? Surely, you can't think that dying your hair by muggle means would provide you enough disguise? Those fans are a very stubborn bunch and if your flying from yesterday is any indication, you are going to have a ton of them quite easily," Ragmar spoke up.

"You can always wear an eyeshield and then we can call you eyeshield 7," said the coach happily.

Harry, however, was not amused.

"I do not even want to know where you found that idea coach, but I don't think that would do. Besides, it is not like I want to hide my face completely. In fact, the quidditch goggles and helmet would be enough for my purpose. I just don't want to do press conferences and parade myself around," Harry explained.

"Yes yes, of course," Ross said.

"Indeed, Mr. Flamel. Although, it is a club policy to make public outings mandatory for players to promote club's goodwill, I believe we can make that concession for you," Ragmar conceded.

"Excellent! Let's go on with the contract then gentlemen!" said Harry with a cheer.

After that minor bit of adjustment in the contract, Harry signed it. The ecstatic manager and coach then gave him a tour of the Cannons' training facility and introduced him to the various players already present on the team. It was only in the afternoon, that Harry returned from there. He was now officially the seeker of Chudley Cannons and times ahead of him were looking quite interesting.

* * *

Apparition is a magical means of transportation where one wills oneself _through_ the world and to one's destination. If one were to explain the phenomenon in a muggle way, one could say that Apparition punches a hole in the space time fabric of the world and _squeezes_ the witch or the wizard through it to his or her destination. Of course, wizards wouldn't really know what space time fabric is and consequently, the former definition would make no sense to them. For an average wizard, Apparition just was a method of transportation, nothing more and nothing less.

Severus Snape, though, disagreed. Snape knew that Apparition wasn't just a phenomenon fuelled by the three Ds. No, it was much complex than that, it was a magic of the highest level. A magic where the world itself catered to the whims of the wizard and thus bend its rules to carry the wizard through space in practically an instant. Snape knew what Apparition was and how Apparition felt.. Precisely why he could tell that this was no Apparition.

There was no uncomfortable feeling of one's body being squeezed through a hole and there was no feeling of one popping out from the other side. No, this was just like travelling from one room to other. Except, there was no movement involved on his part. Actually, he didn't even do anything.

"Ah, welcome Severus!"

Snape recognized that voice. He turned around and saw the owner of that voice, and sure enough, it was the one who he had summoned, Harry Flamel.

"Where am I?" Snape asked in a daze.

The room was brightly lit, with the fireplace crackling before him. There was a sofa on his side which looked quite old fashioned (even from the wizarding standard). The walls had different paintings, none of which were moving. The room was warm and welcoming. In one word, it was quite cosy.

"You are at my place," said Harry.

"And where exactly is your place?"

"Doesn't really matter," Harry dismissed, "So, tell me, how went your job interview with our beloved Headmaster?"

"Before that, how did I come here? I was just outside the Hogwarts castle and.. I was suddenly here," Snape asked in a curious voice.

Harry smiled, "Well, you must have wanted to come here?"

"Not exactly, no," Severus said dryly.

Harry's smile didn't lessen in the least, "At the very least, you should have thought about me then?"

Snape said with disbelief, "I just wondered where you were."

Harry smirked, "And that was enough for you to be here."

"But where exactly is here?" Snape pressed on.

"As I said Severus, that doesn't matter. What matters is you are here and you have news about your job interview that you desperately want to share with me," Harry replied.

"I am not desperate," Snape said.

"Yes you are, you just don't know it," Harry replied.

Sensing that it was pointless to argue with the eccentric wizard, Snape relented.

"I got the job."

And that was it. Snape said no further words to expand on it, to Harry's surprise. After waiting for a full minute with an expectant look on his face and still getting no reaction from Snape at all, Harry swished his hands with a sigh.

"Why can you do this without your wand?" Snape said, while eyeing the recentlly conjured table and artifact which he knew to be a pensieve.

"The important question here is," Harry said while motioning him to proceed, "Why can't you?"

Snape groaned. He was rapidly learning to not ask any meaningful question to his summoned. At least not while expecting a meaningful answer. Nonetheless, he did as he was told. A silvery extract from his temple was soon put into the artifact where it swirled, inviting the wizards present to view it.

Harry promptly dipped into the pensieve to watch the interaction between Snape and the Headmaster. Truth be told, he was looking forward to listening to the antics of Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

 **Flashback**

Severus Snape walked into the headmaster's office. This was his first time being inside the office of the headmaster. Well, that wasn't particularly true. Some years back, he had walked inside the office in similar fashion. Only, that was because of him nearly dying at the claws of a transformed Remus Lupin. Not the best day of his life, yes, and James Potter saving his life made it twice as bad. So no, this was not the first time he was entering the headmaster's office. Although, this was the first time he entered by himself, which explained the two chocolate frogs on his pockets. Snape thought he was being thoughtful when he brought the sweets, as Dumbledore had mentioned in his letter that he fancied Chocolate Frogs. At least until he reached the gargoyle manning the office. Snape could count on one hand, the times that he had felt truly dumb. Sufficed to say that one more was added to the count this day.

Regardless, he moved towards the headmaster's table, which was unoccupied, and deposited the two sweets there. He then looked around the office. There were multitudes of silver instruments that he couldn't recognize, although, he did notice a handheld mirror. He briefly wondered whether the mirror was yet another artifact or just a simple mirror but didn't fret on it much. He also noticed an empty bird perch which, Severus deduced, belonged to Dumbledore's familiar, Fawkes the phoenix. There were also the portraits of the past headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts but they were sleeping, or at least they were pretending to being asleep, despite of being mid-day. Which reminded him, where was Dumbledore? Surely he didn't forget the interview?

As if on cue, the fireplace activated from where emerged the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore. The man hadn't aged one bit since Snape had last seen him, which was after the incident with Lily Potter.

"Ah, Severus, I hope that I have not kept you waiting for much?" Dumbledore asked in a jolly manner.

"Of course not, Dumbledore," Snape said carefully. It would not do him much good to point it out that Dumbledore had been fifteen minutes, not an insubstantial amount of time, late.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore went and sat on his chair and motioned Snape to sit as well.

"Now Severus, might I inquire as to where you have been for the past year?"

Snape looked at the man carefully, and said in a very measured voice, "That would be pointless Dumbledore, seeing as you have over a dozen tracking charms placed on my self."

Dumbledore didn't look even a bit perturbed.

"I am not sure what you are talking about Severus," he said with perfect flavor of ignorance.

"Of course," Snape drawled.

It had been quite the revealation when Flamel had pointed out the fact that Snape was tagged with multitudes of tracking charm on his body. The tracking charms had been subtle and Snape had been quite distraught over the year, hence, he had not discovered that little fact. Nevertheless, he had never ventured outside his own living place except to procure necessary ingredients for the ritual at the last hour, the reason why Dumbledore didn't come knocking at his doorsteps before. In retrospect, it was to be expected. Snape would have been a fool to believe that Dumbledore would let a marked Death Eater to roam free on his own.

"So, where have you been?" Dumbledore asked again.

Snape didn't know what the man was playing at, but decided to humor him anyway.

"I was quite busy with one of my research, Dumbledore. I assure you, I was holed up at my own place and not causing murder and mayhem anywhere."

"Oh?" Dumbledore eyed him with genuine curiosity, "Might I inquire about the nature of your research Severus?"

Snape eyed Dumbledore for the greatest of time. Flamel had warned him that Dumbledore would inevitably ask this question and that he would have to be very convincing about his answer, lest Dumbledore get suspicious.

"I was researching about the Staff of Asclepius," Snape answered.

That was not the truth, but that was not a complete lie. Snape had indeed researched about the staff but had soon dropped it off in favor of the summoning ritual.

Comprehension dawned on Dumbledore's face, "Ah.. the mythical staff of healing. No doubt to heal your childhood friend? A noble endeavor."

"A foolish one. Seeing as my efforts were unneeded at the end," Snape lied with ease.

"I think you should not measure your actions with its success alone, Severus. Intents too count. And yours was a noble one. Although, one would say that what you searched for the last year is something only mentioned in fictions."

"And what would you say Dumbledore?" Snape asked.

"Me? Well I happen to have a penchant for believing in the fictitious," Dumbledore subtly glanced towards his wand which went unseen by Snape, "Call it an old man's folly.

"Moving on to the reason of your visit here, I do still happen to have the post open for you Severus," said Dumbledore.

"I accept it then," Snape answered without missing a beat.

"Just like that Severus?"

Snape sighed, why did people have to make it so difficult, "I am delighted that you find me worthy of the responsibility of training young minds under your care. I shall do my best to impart my knowledge to the students here." _should they not happen to be dunderheads._

"Err.. a bit of politeness is a good thing, of course, but what I meant was, don't you have any questions regarding your station? Like your pay for instance?"

"Headmaster, I am confident that you would pay me fairly. And I know for a fact that Hogwarts' teachers are required to be in the castle itself. Apart from that, I have no other questions regarding my post," Snape said with a hint of irritation.

He was desperate to cut the conversation short and was hoping that Dumbledore would take the hint, which he did.

"Of course Severus. Anything else you want to ask?" Dumbledore offered.

"When do I start?" Snape asked.

"From the next week. In fact, I would have you start right now if not for your need to review the lesson plans. Horace is getting desperate to continue his retirement, you see," Dumbledore said in a delightful mood. It was almost appalling seeing the headmaster swing from one mood to another with such ease.

"I will take my leave then," Snape got up and proceeded towards the door. Right in the middle of his walk, he paused.

Turning towards the headmaster once again, he spoke, "Pass on my congratulations to the Potters.. and don't mention my name if possible. James Potter wouldn't really take it in a good way."

Without waiting for the headmaster's reply, Severus turned and left.

* * *

Harry emerged out from the memory.

"Well, it went with unexpected ease. You are a scary liar Severus," Harry said with a touch of respect.

"Spying on the Dark Lord requires that," Snape said with almost a hint of pride, "And skilled leglimens the headmaster may be, he isn't half as scary as the Dark Lord."

"Yes, yes, I get it, your Dark Lord is scary and an amazing leglimens and children quaver when his name is uttered and whatnot."

"I did not mean that!" Snape protested, "But you will have to admit, the man was quite powerful."

"Is," Harry corrected.

"Pardon?" Snape said in confusion.

"The man is quite powerful. He is not gone. Not completely."

"So you say."

"So I say indeed."

Harry went and sit on the sofa and procured a drink, Butterbeers, to be specific, and offered some to Snape.

"I see you acquired some gold?" Snape asked while accepting the drink.

Harry shrugged, "The Cannons gave me some spending money. In fact, I acquired something else too."

Harry snapped his fingers and with a pop, a house elf appeared in front of him.

"Master is summoning Tippy?"

A house elf, dressed in red and gold robes with a phoenix emblemb, asked in a humble fashion.

Harry motioned towards Snape, "Tippy, this is Severus Snape. He would be living here for a few days. Afterwards, he is going to Hogwarts to teach. I want you to go with him as his personal house elf and work in the Hogwarts kitchens."

Tippy nodded and disappeared.

Snape looked at him in disbelief. House elves didn't exactly come cheap and yet the man was giving him a personal house elf.

"If this is to spy on me then you are doing a pretty terrible job of it," Snape said accusingly.

Harry smirked, "Rest assured Severus, Tippy will not spy on you. Well, a little bit perhaps but you need not be paranoid about it."

"So why are you giving her to me then?" Snape asked curiously.

"Call it a gift, or make whatever you think of it," Harry said nonchalantly.

Snape thought for a moment. It didn't make sense. Why would anyone in their right mind do so much for a stranger? Indeed, there must be some reason for the house elf tagging along with him but what could it possibly be? In the end, Harry Flamel was too complex for him to figure out, so he let it be.

"Anyways, it is a good thing that you got accepted into Hogwarts," Harry said.

"You make it sound as if my first year Hogwarts letter just arrived."

Harry eyed him as if to say, 'really?'

"As I was saying, Dumbledore trusted you the position so I would expect you to teach the young minds quite sincerely."

"I will, of course.. Provided that they are not empty in their heads.. or do not possess the attention span of a toad." Snape said with a sneer.

"How much is the attention span of a toad really?" Harry asked with amusement.

"Not enough."

Harry sighed, "You are a man of many talents, Severus but clearly teaching isn't one of them. Let's just take baby steps then. Let's start with not giving the children nightmare. We will then improve upon that later, agreed?"

"I will try," Snape scoffed.

"Excellent! Now moving onto other matters, try not to let your fondness for me (Snape coughed, throwing up the butterbeer that he was in the process of drinking), overpower your sense of caution. Which is to say, try not to appear here so frequently."

Snape hadn't still gotten over his earlier indignation, but Harry pressed on.

"Albus Dumbledore is a very powerful and observant wizard. A dangerous combination. He has already taken steps to keep tabs on you with the tracking charms and you can only consider yourself lucky that he hasn't discovered yet that you were present on the site of magical concentration during that night on Samhain. So don't try and take unnecessary risks."

Snape looked at him with a still indignant look before saying, "First of all, _I am not fond of you!_ No, don't interrupt. Second, one can't disappear from Hogwarts just like that (Harry smiled!). No, they can't. And even if one could, I will not! And you do not have to remind be about cautious, I am a Slytherin!"

"Jeez.. No need to get so petulant about it! I was just saying.."

"No... Just don't!"

"Okay Severus, easy there," Harry said, an idiotic smile still gracing his features.

Snape frowned at the wizard. Flamel's capability of unsettling him was proving to be very very inconvenient. Ah well, at least he won't have to put up with him much longer.

* * *

Severus Snape was perplexed. He had apparated out from whereever Flamel's residence had been to Diagon Alley to procure some ingredients for a new recipe of Blood Replenishing potion that had just been published in the Potions monthly. The shopping went well enough using Flamel's money. But as he thought of returning to Flamel's place, he couldn't recall where it was. Of course, Flamel had never answered where his place was in the first place. But still, he should have been able to apparate to the place. Evidently, he could not.

The way Apparition worked was using the three Ds, one of which was Destination. And he had the Destination part figured out as Flamel's room even if he didn't exactly know where it was and last he checked, the Flamel residence had not been under Anti-Apparition ward or he wouldn't have been able to Disapparate from there in the first place. But still he couldn't apparate there. Which left him with another option,

 _Portus_

He pointed his wand to a knut and whispered. The knut glowed.. and then fizzled out, indicating that the spell was a failure, which only added to Snape's confusion.

Portkeys took the reference of a wizard's magical signature. A wizard could deliberately tag some place with his own magic leaving a magical residue or even if he did not tag it, the place he had been to in the last few hours still retained his signature. Allowing the wizard to create portkey to the place, which essentially meant that Snape's spell should have succeeded. But it did not.

So, he couldn't apparate there and he couldn't portkey there and he was pretty sure that the place was not registered in the Floo network and he couldn't even take a bus to the place as he did not know its location. How was he supposed to get there then?

Just as he was racking his brain on this latest problem, a figure in the crowd hailed him.

"Mr. Snape!" The voice chirped.

Snape groaned. It had only been a few days since he had last heard the voice and he wasn't too keen on hearing it again.

"Amber," he said in a tired voice.

"Oh Mr. Snape.. Severus, I can call you Severus right? It's really you! I never thought I would be meeting you so soon! Oh, what's this? Shopping for potions ingredients? Spinach seeds? Don't tell me, you are here for that new recipe? What a coincidence! I was here for the same!"

"Miss.."

"Lynn. My full name is Amber Lynn," she supplied with exuberance.

"Miss Lynn.. please breathe. It won't do for you to faint on me. And yes, you can call me Severus and as you mentioned, I am indeed here to shop for Volansky's new recipe." Snape said with pronounced indifference. He simply did not have the energy to deal with the overly excited bundle of energy in front of him. Alas, Amber didn't take the hint.

"It's amazing isn't it?" She clapped her hand, "Just how much the mere addition of Spinach seeds could increase the potency! Besides, it also cures the mild indigestion issues of Borak's recipe."

"I am well aware of the fact," Snape said, annoyed. The girl was ten years too early to inform any potions related fact to him. Only, the said girl was too busy to hear him.

"Of course, many speculate that Volansky just found the recipe due to an accident. Now I know that he is not exactly the best potioneer in the country but it sounds so rude to accuse him like that.. as if half of the discoveries in potions are not due to accidents. Why, even Skelegrow was designed to revitalize the nerves, and of course it does its work, hence the pain, but nobody even thought that it would end up being a bone growing potion at the end."

Amber explained in an animated fashion making Snape sigh in frustration. Why exactly was the girl chattering mundane potions facts to him again?

"Miss Lynn.."

"And the Animagus revealing potion was meant to be a hallucinating agent.."

"Amber.."

"And it does gives hallucinations, yes, but the hallucinations turn out to be of one's Animagus form. If Kiera didn't put Unicorn's tail hair accidentally.."

"..."

"And as if the hypocrites do not dream deep down that they'd someday put some ingredients in reverse order and come up with a Felix Felicius.. Err.. I spoke a bit too much right?"

Apparently, Amber had finished her rant as she took notice of Snape's face for the first time in the last ten minutes, to find an almost impossible mixture of irritation, annoyance, indignation, and a strange look that one could loosely interpret as "go-away!" or "stop-talking!".

"Indeed.. I must be honest, prior to meeting you, I had never thought it possible that one person could find it in him or herself to drivel so much."

Amber flushed in embarrassment. She always did have a knack for rambling too much when she was nervous and meeting Severus Snape face to face was one of the few things that could make her lose her nerves.

She muttered something weakly which sounded suspiciously like "I am sorry".

"Anyways," said Snape, "I congratulate you on your recipe Miss Lynn.. or should I say, Mr. Volansky?"

"H-H-How..," she spluttered.

Of course, Snape wasn't really going to say that his attempts at learning Legilimency were finally starting to pay off.. so he made a quick excuse,

"Please, the passion with which you were defending him? I would have to be a dunderhead to not get it. By the way, congratulations on your.. accidental discovery," Snape said with a smirk.

Amber still hadn't gotten over her earlier surprise at Snape figuring her alter ego, so her attempts at looking indignant were awfully unsuccessful.

"Now if there isn't anything else, I would take my leave. A very good day to you, Miss Lynn."

With those words, Snape left Amber on the streets of the Diagon Alley and disapparated with a audible pop, leaving a very confused Amber behind.

* * *

Severus was dazed. One moment he was disapparating away from that awfully troublesome girl and the next moment he was at a totally unexpected destination. Had it not been for his talents at Occlumency, he would have undoubtedly jumped up in fright.

A sense of deja vu came over him. Hadn't something similar happened to him in the past? And then it hit him.

"Flamel," after a moment of disorientation, he had finally noticed another presence in the room.

"Severus," said Harry without taking his eyes off from a book that he was perusing.

"Don't you Severus me Flamel! Answer me, how am I here? Wait, before that, tell me where exactly is this place and how come I could not apparate or portkey to here?"

Harry sighed and closed the book that he had been reading, "We are at my place Severus and where this is does not really matter. As for apparating or portkeying here, it is impossible."

Snape was not satisfied with that answer, "So how did I come here then?"

"Was that not obvious Severus?" Harry asked rhetorically, "You are here because you wanted to be here."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"On the contrary, I think it makes plenty of sense, now tell me, how went your visit to the Diagon Alley?"

Sensing that Harry was diverting the flow of conversation, Snape tried to argue but after a moment's thought, decided against it. He was not going to get his answers so he might as well save his breath.

"It went fine," he mumbled.

"Oh? I see that it went better than fine?" Harry commented with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Are you using leglimency on me?" Snape said with disbelief.

"Come now Severus, do you think that I can divine answers with leglimency from a master Occlumens such as you?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Severus replied.

"Yes, indeed," Harry said back with a smirk, "However, that doesn't mean that I used it this time.. I just happened to catch a familiar scent on you."

"What are you? A werewolf?" Snape said with a sneer.

"Not exactly, no.. But there are many other ways to enhance your senses and some of them much more preferable than lycanthropy. Coming back to my question, I see that you had the honors of stumbling upon dear Miss Amber?"

"Honors," Snape scoffed, "More like bad luck. The girl is obviously touched in head. Had it not been for her potions skills, I would have dismissed a blabbermouth such as her as a dunderhead."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "So you are saying that you acknowledge her potions skills?"

"She is good," Snape grudgingly accepted, "She published a new recipe on blood-replenishing potion which yields higher volume of the said potion while increasing its potency."

"Severus! Is this respect I hear? Are you fine? Or perhaps you caught some cold on your way back?" Harry said with mock concern.

"No need to blow it out of proportions, she is just an ordinary girl who happens to have a talent in brewing."

"You say it now but come another year, you would be going on dates with the girl," Harry said in a teasing tone.

"It would take an Imperius from Merlin himself for that," Snape scoffed.

"I happen to disagree. This is what, your second time meeting her? You know how they say, first time is accident, second time is co-incidence, but the third time is destiny. Be careful when you next stumble upon her Severus, she just might be your destiny!"

Harry turned back and disappeared into his room before Snape could protest vehemently.

Snape, meanwhile, was quite stunned. Not only because of the conversation that had transpired between the two of them but also due to the peculiarity of Harry Flamel. In addition to the fact that he lived in a place where one could only appear due to some glitch in the universe, Flamel happened to have a sense of smell that rivalled werewolves themselves. Apart from that, he also happened to have a disastrous sense of humor. Which was to say, he was mad. Really, what adjective to better define a person who could even suggest something as idiotic as Severus Snape going on dates with a babbling Hufflepuff (for what else could the girl have been? Slytherin?).

In the end, Snape was honestly quite glad at moving to Hogwarts. At least then he would not have to deal with mad wizards. Oh who was he kidding? If anything, he would have to deal with someone even mad than Flamel himself. At that moment, Snape realized that he was cursed forever to be under the shadows of powerful and equally barmy wizards. Well, barmy usually didn't apply to the Dark Lord as much as insane but that was merely a technicality of linguistics, as Flamel would say. And that was it, he was even starting to quote Flamel of all person! Next he would be spouting about how once was accident, twice was co-incidence and thrice was destiny.

A cold feeling washed inside of him. Honestly, it could not possibly be true? Snape, with that girl? Impossible! But.. What if..? No! It was absolutely impossible! Even if Merlin and Morgana both came back from the dead to Imperius him, Snape would not concede! Never!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"REDUCTO!"

A menacing bolt of red light emerged from the wand of a handsome wizard whose face was now contorted by a rage so inhuman that it was simply impossible even to fathom how someone who looked so cheery could get so angry.

The bolt of magic made its way straight towards its intended target but just before it could strike it splashed against a blue ethereal construct and disappeared into non-existence.

"Is that your best, mutt?"

This time, the spell originated from the other side with a dangerous black color. Perhaps the color gave away its lethality, its target did not attempt to face it on with a shield and dodged it instead. Which proved to be a wise decision, if the barely standing tree that the spell fell upon was any indication.

"Don't be so certain, Snivellus. Bombarda!"

A thick marble slab hastily conjured by Snape stood in the way of him and total annihilation. The upping of the spell power by Sirius (lovingly referred to as mutt by Snape), suddenly increased the stakes of the impromptu friendly dueling match.

"Sectumsempra!"

Snape cried while sidestepping a nasty curse from Black, who incidentally managed to dodge the dark severing curse.

"Really mutt? Entrail expelling curse?" Snape said with amusement.

"Shut up slimy bastard! Just die already.. AVADA-"

"SIRIUS BLACK!"

An inhuman shriek, which almost made Black jump up in fright, interrupted his incantation and disrupted his attention, resulting in a Blasting curse connecting with him. He was flung unceremoniously towards the Hogwarts walls with a loud crash.

"Never.." the shrill voice began in a tone that promised eternal pain and misery, "Never in my fifty years of teaching did I ever think that a killing curse would be cast inside the very grounds of Hogwarts! And to think it was one of my one!"

The figure trailing the voice belonged to a stern looking woman who, if her purple face was any indication, was immensely angry.

"But Minnie!"

Sirius, who had now recovered from his crash with the Hogwarts walls, began. However, his words dried up in his mouth at one disapproving look from his former head of house. Somehow, a furious Minerva McGongall made him feel like a meek first year student who had been caught while pranking some unsuspecting Slytherin.

"Don't you dare make any excuse Mr. Black," McGonagall said with an icy voice, "You two will accompany me this very instant to Headmaster's office or Merlin help me I'll hex you so bad that even your grandchildren will flinch at the very mention of the letter A."

Sirius mumbled something meekly which suspiciously sounded like "Yes, Professor McGonagall."

With a now abated McGonagall in lead, the two children.. err.. adults made their way towards the castle. Throughout the way, the two would often reach out for their wands at even the slightest odd sounds or suspicious movement of the other. It never came to a full confrontation, however, courtesy of Minerva McGonagall, holder of the most icy glare at Hogwarts since nineteen-something.

"Chocolate Frogs," Minerva said to the Gargoyle, who leapt aside, giving them entrance to Headmaster's office.

"Ahh.. Minerva dear.. and Messers Black and Snape as well. I was beginning to worry that you two had missed your appointments."

"What are talking about Dumbledore?" Sirius asked, clearly surprised.

"Do you wish for me to repeat my words, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore said with a twinkle.

"What the mutt means," Sirius glared at him, "is what do you mean by _our_ appointments? I was under the impression that I was the only new teacher this term."

"Wait, Snivellus is teaching? But he is a Death Eater!" Sirius cried.

"Mr. Black, you will hold your tongue or so help me I will cut it off your mouth!" Minerva shrieked at him.

"Thanks, Minerva dear. You can leave us be now, I am sure you have plenty of work to do," Dumbledore dismissed her without a care in the world.

McGonagall shot a nasty glare at the old headmaster which didn't quite last a minute. Afterwards, she gave out a long sigh and made herself scarce. At that moment, Severus could somehow relate to his old Transfiguration professor. Being dismissed so suddenly was not a new thing to him either.

"Now, Mr. Black, I assure you that Severus has long since given up his past and has repented enough. In fact, I trust him with my students and that ought to make my assessment of him clear."

"Dumbledore! He sold the lives of Potters and Longbottoms! I find it hard to believe that you have forgotten it, given that it was you who told us the same in the first place," Sirius said with a venomous voice. He would have liked nothing better than blowing up the older Slytherin to bits and pieces, as was evident by the hateful glare he was shooting towards Snape.

"Indeed, it was me who told you of Severus' blunder. But he has made up quite a bit for it by serving as our spy. Believe me, Sirius, his information was monumental in preventing a lot of lives in the war," Dumbledore said gravely, "And I told you and your friends, his name so that you all could find it in your hearts to forgive him. He deserves a second chance."

"The only thing he deserves is an Avada Kedavra at point blank range, nothing more!" Sirius cried.

"Let's see how you accomplish that without your three other lackeys! Or wait, was it two perhaps? Tell me mutt, whatever became of your dear Peter Pettigrew?" Snape said with a nasty sneer.

Peter Pettigrew was a betrayer who had sold the secret to the Potter household resulting in Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr's attack on Godric Hollow. An event which had nearly cost them the life of Lily Potter. The rat had disappeared since then and was out in the run. He was also a very sore topic for the three marauders. More so for Sirius as it was he who had originally proposed the switch for the secret keepers.

Sirius whipped out his wand faster than ever and pointed at Snape's neck and said in a scathing voice,

"At least I have friends, you slimy git. What of you? It would be so easy for me you know, to slip into your room and cut your neck with a simple diffindo. No punishments for offing Death Eaters either. Win-Win for me Snivellus!"

Snape, too, had his wand pointed towards Sirius' stomach. He wasn't one to Be intimidated so easily after all, "And you forget mutt, it would be even easier for me to slip an tasteless, odorless and lethal potion into your pumpkin juice one morning. What a misfortune it would be, poor Sirius Black who had just started a new job, dead so soon!"

Both of the two men were in the process of handing out death threats like hot cookies but alas, both ended up forgetting that there was another presence in the room. A presence of an incredible mage who was annoyed at being ignored and was getting increasingly angry with each death threats made.

"Enough!"

A huge magical force ripped the two apart from each other and pinned them down, limiting their movements, very similar to petrificuls totalus. Only, it was accomplished solely by the magical pressure of Albus Dumbledore and not an actual spell.

"Stop behaving like a child Messers Black and Snape. I will not tolerate this foolishness from my staff. You two are not to attempt assassinations on each other, promise me."

The magic flaring in the air had cowed the anger out of the two soon to be professors. In the face of an angry magical phenomenon such as Dumbledore, they sure were not going to say no.

"Of course Headmaster," Sirius said in a squeaky voice.

Snape, too, was quite shaken from the presence of such magic on the air. Only, it was not really new to him. He had frequently been in the vicinity of an angry Dark Lord, not the wisest decision of his life considering the amount of Cruciatus the Dark Lord flung around. More than that, he had been in the presence of an angry Harry Flamel on the night of Samhain. Dumbledore didn't really frighten him that much.

Perhaps he was developing an immunity, Severus mused to himself. A valid assumption, if it were not for the fact that he was beginning to find it hard to breathe due to the presence of such heavy magic on air. Severus would later observe that allowing one's mind to wonder in the presence of a powerful mage wasn't really the best of the idea.

"Severus, do you promise?" Dumbledore asked again.

"Yes of course Headmaster," Snape said in an equally weak voice. It seemed that his immunity had still a lot of developing to do.

And just like that, the weight lifted from them and they took a huge breathe of air.

"Now, let's make a formal introduction like civilized adults shall we? Professor Black, meet Professor Snape who will be the replacement for professor Horace Slughorn."

"Old sluggy finally retiring then eh?"

"Please do not interrupt Mr. Black, and yes, he is indeed retiring. And Professor Snape, meet Professor Black, the flying instructor who will be replacement for Tindy Derrick," said Dumbledore.

"Mutt will teach others to fly, joy."

"At least I will be teaching something fun, and not something boorish like potions, Snivellus," said Sirius.

"And at least I will be teaching something useful and not anything as idiotic as breaking your bones in thousand different ways," Snape replied.

"It's called Quidditch, Snivellus!"

"I know, mutt."

"Now gentlemen," Dumbledore intervened, "I am sure you have plenty of things to do, so why don't you move along? Mr. Filch is waiting for you outside and he will show you to your quarters."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sirius Black turned and left his office, presumably to get away from any unwanted presence.

Severus, though, lingered on for a moment.

"You arranged this, didn't you?" He asked in an accusing tone.

"I am not sure what you are implying Severus," Dumbledore masterfully feigned ignorance.

"This meeting, between myself and Black. I wonder what your intentions were. For us to kill each other perhaps?" He said out loud.

"Believe me, Severus, the meeting between you two was a co-incidence, nothing more. Now, I suggest you go and find your quarters."

Severus turned and made his way towards the door. Before going, though, he faced his former Headmaster and said, "Black attempted a Killing Curse towards me. Not that the shoddy curse would have connected, but had he cast that, I would have killed him. Make sure to tighten your leash on that mutt, Headmaster."

His words lingering, Snape left the office. Dumbledore merely smiled after the last of the two had left completely. His time as headmaster of Hogwarts was getting terribly boring after the war. Now though, the two school rivals were sure to liven up the school. Things were getting terribly entertaining.

* * *

 **Cannons get a new seeker!**

 _Roger Scholes,_

 _Your favorite quidditch reporter has found out that the Chudley Cannons have hired a new seeker recently. No dear readers, it is not Tommy Randal, the seeker of Chudley's junior division, as we at prophet had predicted a week back._

 _When asked if he was disappointed about not being selected for the club, Tommy commented, "Of course, it's a little sad that I won't be playing in the major leagues yet but do believe me when I say that the better player has been selected between us two." This praise that Tommy has lapped upon the one who apparently bested him says volumes about this new seeker._

 _So who is he? We don't know. Yes, dear readers, first time in many years have we at prophet failed to fathom the identity of a newly signed player. When asked the Cannons about his identity, all that Manager Dorkins had to say was, "You will undoubtedly see him at the next match against the Falcons. We'll be announcing his name at the conference after he has won the match."_

 _An awfully confident statement by Dorkins given the past performance of the club. Was it something that he believed from his heart? Or was it merely an attempt at redirecting the question of his seeker's identity? After all, why has the club felt the need to hide the identity of the player to the extent that no one apart from the manager and coach of the Cannons have even seen the person?_

 _This whole situation leaks of the scandal of the 1902 when the Kremare Krestels hired a veela as their goalkeeper. It only took a single game of allure ridden players scoring goals at their own post for the league to forbid any veela from playing in the quidditch leagues; a decision that was later retracted in 1945 with an additional rule of no species magic._

 _Has Ragmar's Cannons hired some quasi human with similar powers and keeping it a secret? Or is it just a talented player? Can we expect an improved performance from the Cannons? Or will it be the same as the previous years? Only the first match against the Falcons will tell._

"They think you are a veela," amusement was abundant in Ross' words when the portly man put down his newspaper.

"I am not," said Harry curtly.

The two were seated at Ross' office in one of the Cannon's grounds. Ross had invited Harry over for formulating plans against Falcons.

"Indeed, but sometimes, I can't help but think that you are not entirely human."

"Oh?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't mean it as an insult," the coach corrected hastily, "It's just.. the way you fly makes it seem as if you were born to be on the broom. Are you a bird animagus?"

"Indeed.. I have three animagus forms.. A phoenix, a basilisk and a dragon," Harry said with a straight face.

Ross though, became stunned.

"You're joking!" he cried out.

"Yep!" Harry cried out as well.

"You're impossible Mr. Flamel. You know, for a while, I really believed you." Ross said with palpable relief.

"Should I be worried that my coach is gullible to such extent?" Harry asked innocently.

"Only when you are concerned. Seriously, had anyone mentioned to me that someone could fly on the broom half as better as you, then I would have called him mental. But along you came and made it possible. Somehow, when it comes to you, everything seems possible."

"I assure you coach, it is not the case. I just have a lot of practice when it comes to flying. _Lots and lots of practice,_ " said Harry with a strange emphasis on his last words.

"Of course, Mr. Flamel. So, how probable do you think is our victory against the Falcons?" Ross asked.

"Depends on the chasers and the goalkeepers.. Also on the beaters, I suppose. However, it would not be advisable for us to prolong the game for more than an hour. Anymore and our healers would have to work overtime."

" _Let us win, and if we can not win, let us break a few heads,_ " Ross quoted the Falcon's motto while Harry nodded, "Indeed, their beaters, in particular, are quite vicious. The Broadmoor brothers, their previous beaters, themselves have trained up Carl and Calvin both brothers themselves."

"Seems like they have a penchant for hiring brothers then," Harry observed.

"Violent brothers, more like. Both of them went this close to serving at Azkaban after they trashed up Saint Mungos' emergency station. I don't really recall why."

"I retract my earlier statement then," said Harry, "We'll have to win this before the half hour mark."

"And that falls upon you, doesn't it?" Ross said cheerily.

"Yes, it does," Harry smiled. This was his first game in many years, and he sure wasn't going to mess it up.

* * *

Sirius Black was annoyed. Annoyed at the ministry for letting Lucius Malfoy scott free. Annoyed at his own mother not kicking the bucket sooner. Annoyed at his girlfriend Kathie for cheating on him with another bloke (not that he was entirely faithful). Annoyed at Madam Rosemerta for not going out with him. so on and so forth. But nothing could top his annoyanc at the slimy git known as Snivellus.

It was enough that he had to grudgingly bear the sight of the old bat everyday at the school but now the slimy snake had followed him all the way to the quidditch match as well!

"What the fuck are you doing here Snivellus?" Sirius cried out while pointing his wand at the other's face. Sirius Black had planned to spend his much awaited holiday by watching the first match of the Quidditch league and again had Snivellus come and dimmed his joy by showing his abnormally large nose and greasy hair!

"Are you daft Black? Pointing your wand at me in broad daylight? Really?" Snape sneered.

Now that Sirius looked around, he saw two menacing wizards making their way towards them. No doubt part of the stadium security, they were looking out for any sign of trouble, especially given the nature of the Falcon's fans.

Sirius hurriedly placed his wand inside his robes and the men turned back.

"So ol' Snivelli, what are you doing here this fine morning?" Sirius said in a sarcastic tone.

"It pleases me to see that you have finally turned blind, mutt. Can't you see that where we are standing? Or are you perhaps retarded enough that you can not fathom the meaning of someone making his way into the quidditch stadium minutes before the starting of a match?"

"You are going to watch quidditch? And wait, is that a Cannons badge on your chest?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"You always had the penchant for speaking the obvious, mutt. And since we are speaking about obvious, yes, I am indeed going inside the stadium to watch the blasted match between the Falcons and the Cannons. And yes, it is indeed a Cannons badge on my chest."

"B-But.. you are Snivellus!"

"It seems you have finally lost your mind mutt," Snape said scathingly.

"You can't possibly spend your day while doing a perfectly entertaining activity like watching a quidditch match," Sirius said.

"We both have different definitions of entertaining, mine more accurate than yours. But I do agree with you mutt, I would rather spend this free day while preparing for my mastery thesis."

"So why are you here then?"

"A meddlesome person decided that I should be here and so I am here.. Let me go then mutt, I do not particularly enjoy chitchatting with you lest you have failed to notice all these years."

Sirius still had looks filled with disbelief as Snape passed by him. Not only was Snivellus going to watch a match between Cannons and the Falcons but he was a Cannons fan! But most of all, Dumbledore had given Snivellus the tickets to the match. Was the world really coming to an end?

* * *

"Hello and welcome everyone to this wonderful day, I am Roger Nye and with me here today is William Corn. Hello Bill, how do you do."

"Hello Roger, I am fine and I am going to be even better once the match starts, much awaited first game of the leagues. I am literally shaking with excitement."

"Too right Bill. For those of our audience who accidentally tuned to this network, today's match is going to be between the Chudley Cannons and the Falmouth Falcons. Now Bill, who is your money on? The Cannons or the Falcons?"

"It's quite difficult to say for certain Roger. One week ago, I would have gladly bet the entirety of my inheritance left by my grandmum on the Falcons but with the news about the Cannons having a new seeker and all this hush hush surrounding it has left me uncertain. Still, considering the fact that seekers alone do not decide the game, I would put my money on the Falcons."

"Seekers alone do not decide the game, you are correct Bill. Not to mention that the seekers usually are the first to go once Carl and Calvin begin their assault, isn't it?"

"Couldn't be more right Roger, those two are one vicious lot. I still remember that nasty attack on Gwenog Jones last season, nearly put her out of her Quidditch carrier."

"Yeah, that was brutal wasn't it.. Oh and here comes the team. Clad in the brightest orange imaginable are the Chudley Cannons ladies and gentlemen. Their seeker and captain Galvin Gudgeon has only just retired from the club and all save one are the familiar faces of the Cannons. There's the keeper Mathew, the beaters, Hans and Harvy, the chasers George, Russell and Arnold and of course, their mystery player, the one in between of the recent debate.. wait, we don't have his name! I can't believe it, the Cannons didn't even give his name to us!"

"Yeah, seems like Ragmar was serious about revealing his identity after the match, Roger."

"Well, if you remember correctly, Bill, it was more along the lines of revealing his identity after they have won. And to stop them from winning at all costs.. and when I say all costs, I do mean all costs, here comes the away team, Falmouth Falcons in their usual grey and white robes. Ladies and gentlemen, the Falcons are pretty well known for their hands-on approach to the game."

"That's a nice way to say that they play foul, Roger!"

"As I said Bill, Hands-on approach. Waving to the crowd with their usual frenzy are the two brutal brothers, Carl and Calvin, coached by the previous beaters of the Falcons, Karl and Kevin Broadmoors themselves."

"And they have clearly inherited the spirit of their predecessors.. wow that sounds morbid."

"It does Bill. Ladies and gentlemen, the Falmouth Falcons with captain and Keeper Derrick, chasers, Stacy, Lucy and Sammy, their seeker Wytt and of course, the stars of the team, the brutal brothers Carl and Calvin. Oh and look the brothers have already started on their tactics, they are currently engaging in a friendly talk with our mysterious new seeker from the Cannons."

"Friendly talk Roger?"

"Friendly indeed, Bill. The referee for this match is Ali Mustafa and he starts the game! The Quaffle is in the air! Which is promptly caught by Cannons' chaser George. He passes it to Arnold and oh what a nice move by him, a perfectly executed Sloth grip.

"He passes it back to George and Intercepted! Lucy intercepts it, that girl is too quick for her age!"

"Undoubtedly Roger, that was a textbook steal."

"Lucy passes it to Sammy who passes it to Stacy. Russel is marking her closely and oohh that must have been nasty, the first bludger of the day goes to Cannon's Russel. A path has opened up in front of her and she takes it and WHAT A HOOP!

"First score of the day goes to Stacy Smith of the Falcon!"

"Simply stunning performance Roger. That dodge, that curve to the quaffel, simply fantastic!"

"Fantastic indeed Bill and the game continues.. Russel to Arnold to George.. the brutal Calvin shoots a bludger and a narrow miss for the Cannons. George looks quite relieved and Calvin equally furious. George to Arnold and he shoots! and misses! Derrick from Falcon passes to Lucy once again.. A long pass to Sammy on the wing and Sammy dodges a bludger from Hans and another from Harvey! That was way too close.. She takes on the quaffel, Russel tries to steal but she dodges again and passes to Lucy who SCORES !"

"You know Roger, I had thought that the Falcons would be much more physical in this game but with a finesse such as this, they simply do not need to! They are looking absolutely unstoppable."

"Indeed Bill! 20-0 for the Falcons and the game continues again. Russel passes to Arnold who passes to George. Carl shoots a bludger and it connects! Ouch that must have been painful, Lucy steals the Quaffle from the Cannons and passes it to Sammy and intercepted! The Quaffle has been intercepted by.. Our mystery seeker from the Cannons. What do we call him Bill?"

"Well.. seeing as he is a seeker and we don't know his name, how about Seeker X?"

"You come up with the strangest of names Bill.. Seeker X it is then! Rarely do the seeker interfere with the chasers instead of doing their own job."

"The situation is not really desperate for the Cannons, Roger so his interruptions were unwarranted. Perhaps he had some other motives?"

"Perhaps Bill, perhaps. Oh, a bludger! Masterfully avoided! Carl sends another bludger on his way and.. Wait, did he just?"

"Yes he did Roger!"

"No way ladies and gentlemen, our Seeker X just jumped three foot high into the air and the bludger just sailed through empty space. Carl looks miffed doesn't he Bill."

"Yes Roger, I bet no one has evaded such a sweet strike in such a daring fashion."

"Speaking of sweet strikes, here's another one! Oh, he rolls under it this time, that's some nice moves Bill."

"Nice moves, yes, Wise moves, no! Beaters aren't allowed to hit seekers while they are not chasing after the snitch but one holding the quaffle is a fair game. In my opinion, our Seeker X is taking unnecessary risk by taking the Quaffle on his own hands, and wait, why isn't he passing it to others? For that matter, why isn't he moving towards the goal?"

"Odd Bill, very odd. Another bludger strike his way courtesy of a very enraged Calvin, and avoided by a perfect 360! Cannons beaters Hans and Harvey just appear entirely clueless as they struggle to take control of a bludger."

"Yes, Roger, the brutal brothers have them beat in that department."

"Another bludger on him by Carl and avoided again! It looks like.. yes, haha, he indeed is teasing the brothers!"

"Right you are Roger! It appears that our Seeker X is toying with them. A very risky maneuver."

"But why in Merlin's name will he do that Bill?"

"We'll have to wait and see then, don't we?"

"Yes, another bludger his way and Hans from the Cannons beats it back this time. High time the beaters took charge! And with this, Seeker X relinquishes his hold on the Quaffle to Russel! Who is moving towards the goal and has a clear shot! But wait, Carl has the control of the bludger and he shoots.. Towards seeker X! He avoids it masterfully.. And RUSSEL SCORES! And Mustafa clearly was watching the brothers closely as he has awarded a penalty for the Cannons! Arnold takes the penalty and shoots sharply to the left hoop, Derrick dives and MISSES! Cannons 20-20 against Falcons all in the span of a few minutes!"

"Haha! Roger old boy! It appears that our Seeker X has many many qualities at his disposal, one of which is pushing the brutal brother's buttons!"

"Brutal Brother's Buttons indeed Bill! Derrick, their captain is yelling at them for shooting at their seeker while non-seeking! Oh he got them good Bill!"

"He did, didn't he?"

"The game resumes with Derrick passing the quaffle to Lucy who gives it to Sammy who narrowly dodges Russel and passes to Stacy and a bludger from Hans makes it way and brushes Stacy on her ankles, but she doesn't lose the Quaffle! Atta girl! She passes it to Sammy and ooo a bludger from Harvey finally connects with her! Russel steals the Quaffle, passes it to Arnold and he SCORES! Cannons 30-20"

"That was shoddy performance Roger. That last bludger from Harvey shouldn't have been possible. Where are the Falcon's beaters when you need them?"

"It appears that Derrick, the captain, is asking the same question to the both of them Bill! And he certainly isn't looking so happy. The game resumes again. Lucy to Stacy to Sammy and a bludger from Hans redirected from Carl. Sammy carries the Quaffle through the midfield, George tries to steal but unsuccessfully, Sammy passes to Arnold and intercepted! Seeker X steals the Quaffle! Carl and Calvin fire bludgers with renewed vigor as our Seeker X skillfully evades them with ease."

"Oh dear, they aren't looking so good Roger."

"Yes Bill, in fact, that's a very unhealthy shade of purple on their faces! They clearly are angry at something! Oh who am I kidding, of course they are angry at our Seeker X! He is playing them like a cat does a mice! Five bludgers and none of them connected and Seeker X passes to Arnold! Who gives it to George who has space open in front of him. He takes it and scores! 40-20 Cannons!"

"Seeker X has clearly disturbed their rhythm."

"Yes he has Bill.. At this rate, Cannons are sure to take a lead. The only question is, will Wytt catch snitch faster than Seeker X? Or is Seeker X as skilled as a seeker as he is as a chaser?"

"Time will tell Roger, time will tell."

* * *

Harry was having the time of his life at his first game against the Falcons. Well he was pretty miffed at the comment that the Falcons' beaters made about his mother but that was only to be expected. Still, that didn't stop him from exacting his vengeance upon those two.

He nearly cried with joy as he took a huge and sudden dive and couldn't stop his grin as Wytt, the Falcons' seeker chased after him. He rolled sideways to avoid the bludger shot by Carl whose growing resemblance to his Uncle Vernon was quite uncanny. 40-30-20-10 and he rose up suddenly! The handle of his broom kissed the grass on the stadium as he narrowly missed the same fate of Wytt. He almost felt sorry for the poor lad, almost.

Thirty minutes were long past and Cannons were leading the match 90-40. Of course, it wouldn't have been possible had he not redirected the attention of the two brutal brothers to himself and kept them from attacking his teammates. They could scarcely wait for the quaffle to get on his hand or for him to make a seeker run, not that they would ever hit him, given his maneuverability on air. Still, that didn't stop them from focusing on him like a hawk does on its prey. Harry didn't mind though. As long as it stopped them from brutalizing his team mates, he was all up for it!

With Wytt now out of the game for at least fifteen minutes, Harry was hovering around the pitch, looking for even the tiniest signs of the snitch. The hairs on his back prickled and he smoothly rolled towards his left avoiding a bludger on his neck!

He looked around and saw the perpetrator.. A very vicious looking Carl. The smile on his face didn't make him any more likable at all! Harry looked downwards and saw that the referee was indulging Derrick. He had apparently overstepped his keeper confines and was getting a warning from the ref.

 _To take chance at such small distraction, he must really hate me._

Harry mused to himself and rolled again avoiding a bludger from Calvin this time.

The Cannons' fans were already booing and trying to attract the attention of the ref which wasn't quite working. Harry would have done something about the bludgers had his attention not been captured by an almost imperceptible flicker of gold. He hastily dived while dodging yet another bludger. By now, the referee's attention was back on the game but since Harry had already made his run, the bludger strike was counted fair.

Carl and Calvin's faces changed as if Christmas had come early. Oblivious to the threat of him catching the snitch, they were simply happy to fling the bludgers towards his way and attempt to bash his head in! Not that they would ever succeed. Harry merely dodged the dangerous balls just as they were about to make a contact with him with minimal movements.

The snitch was hovering near Falcon's goalpost. As Harry moved towards it, Carl and Calvin imposed themselves on his way, waving their bats around. While bashing a player with the bat would certainly qualify as a foul, Harry was sure that such a simple fact wouldn't really stop them from trying. He did not slow down, though. Instead, he kicked his speed up a notch! Just as he was about to collide with the two, he stood up on his broom and jumped!

The broom darted from between the two beaters and Harry sailed over them! When he landed back on his broom, his hands were clutching the golden snitch! The Cannons had won the match 250-60!

* * *

Hello, author here!

Do you like the commentary format? Have you any suggestions? Drop them at the chapter review! Thanks for reading!


	8. Rosy Rosy Rosemerta!

"Settle down, settle down," Ross said to the crowd of the reporters who were getting exceedingly noisy. Ross himself was feeling a little tensed. Of course, when compared to the elation after their first victory in many many years, it didn't matter really. Still, the tension was there, however small.

He eyed the crowd rather nervously. Truth be told, he was not a people person. Ragmar, the manager, was usually the one to handle all press related matters, including post match interviews. As for the reason why Ragmar was not present here?

"Where is Mr. Dorkins?" was precisely the first question asked by one of the reporters.

"Boss.. err.. Mr. Dorkins had a little mishap," Ross explained nervously.

"What kind of mishap?" the reporter followed.

Internally cursing the reporter for putting words in his mouth, Ross replied reluctantly, "You see, he.. err.. had a small accident.. that is to say, he fainted right after the match and is now being treated at the St. Mungos. Poor man was standing on the sun for the entire match period, it must have got him."

Of course, it was a blatant lie. Well, not exactly. Ragmar did indeed faint, yes, but it was not due to standing on the sun for prolonged hours. It was due to the excitement and disbelief of the Cannons winning the match. Ross, too, would have once fainted due to the shock of the unlikely event but that was before he had met Harry Flamel. After meeting him, nothing felt impossible anymore.

"Let's begin then, shall we?" Ross attempted to mimic what he had seen over the years with Ragmar on the post-match interviews.

"Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet,"

 _ahh.. The one who reported about that scandal with Jennifer Hawk of the Harpies.._ , Ross reminded himself.

"Who is your seeker?" She asked in the most direct way possible.

Ross had a very good idea of how things were going to progress in the interview. Specifically, it was all going to be about their new seeker, even a Hogwarts' firstie could see that.

"A person," Ross replied with a face as straight as an ironing rod (not that wizards had an ironing rod in the first place).

The reporter, Skeeter, couldn't believe at the blatant attempt of dissmissing her question.. ohh this was going to be so interesting!

"Yes, Mr Villager, we could tell that he was a person, what with his resemblance to a wizard and such but what I.. and most of the ones present here, want to ask you is that what is his name? What does he look like minus the Quidditch helmet and the goggles? Is it really a he? Or does she just have a flat chest? Basically, who is your seeker!"

Rita had asked the right question. Most of the reporters in the room had now forgotten about the Cannons winning the game and the fact that the captain and keeper of the team, Matthews was sitting besides the coach. They had even forgotten the fact that Ragmar Dorkins had had a Heart attack due to the shock of them winning and was carried off to St. Mungos. The only thing that now mattered for the reporters, was the identity of the Cannons' new Seeker.

And this was quite troublesome for the coach, Ross, as well as for the captain Matthews. It was not a well-known fact that the players in a quidditch club were required to sign a magical contract which prevented them from sharing the secrets of the club. This was designed in particular to prevent the theft of club specific training methods by other clubs. While the contract wasn't so severe as to strip the magic off a wizard on its violation, it certainly did have a strong compulsion on it. A compulsion that was currently acting on both Ross and Matthews.

In an overly enthusiastic gesture of good-will, inspired by Harry's phenomenal performance on first couple of training sessions, Ragmar Dorkins had made his identity a club secret. Which basically meant that neither Ross, nor Matthews were allowed to share it to outsiders. While Ross had meant to keep Harry's secret since the start, Matthews, on the other hand, was fighting the compulsion charm due to his contract.

"Well.." Ross began, "You see.. he values his privacy highly.."

Before Ross could continue, Skeeter pressed on,

"Surely you could at least share his name?"

Even thinking the name Harry Flamel was making Ross' brain fuzzy, there was no way that he would be able to communicate it. Faced with a compulsion charm on one end and an intensely curious crowd of correspondents on the other, Ross was feeling quite miserable. And as so happens on the times when one feels desperate, a brilliant idea sparked on his mind (which, he will feel some hours later, was not so brilliant after all). The origin of the idea had been a loo session that Ross had underwent in the middle of the game.

The Cannons, being a very fan oriented club, had installed wireless receptors in the loo, so that the fans wouldn't have to miss even a minute of the game while relieving themselves. The decision itself was met with mixed response where one half thought that it was the best thing since pumpkin juice, while the other half were simply weirded out by the idea of listening to the commentators exclaiming, "Oh what a performance," each time they took a dump. In the end though, the enthusiastic portion had won out and the wizarding wireless receptors had stuck on.

Ross, on his hasty session, had chanced a narrative from the commentators about, "Seeker X is absolutely phenomenal today!"

That narrative had earned only a small chuckle from him at that time. Turned out, it had a much greater role to play.

"His name, esteemed witches and wizards," he paused for a while, enjoying the fact that almost every one on the room were holding out on their breaths.

 _Let it never be said that Ross Villager of the Cannons didn't have a flair for dramatics!_

Now Ross wasn't the brightest lumos on the wand, his mama had made it perfectly clear during his childhood (for which he may or may not have resented her to this day), but he at least had the sense to not copy the name so blatantly.

"Ahem, as I said, his name, estee-"

"""Yes, yes get on with it!""" The reporters practically shouted at him.

 _Che! no fun at all..._

"His name is, Cikar Eex !" Ross said with some threatics, lessening the e on the first word and prolonging the e on the second.

Stunned.. was the only word that could be used to describe the reaction that followed his proclamation, making Ross quite proud to have handled the situation thus. Before he could enjoy the feeling of proudness though,

"You just changed the enunciation on 'Seeker X', didn't you!?"

Cried one of the reporters, who had been listening to the wizarding wireless after all!

"What? I would.. never !" Ross tried, but desperately failed, to mimick the feeling of indignation.

Clearly, the reporters didn't believe his words which made Ross feel bad a little. After all, he had no idea at that time that he had just cemented the name Seeker-X on the Quidditch world for years to come!

* * *

 _Seeker X, a Muggle?_

 _Rita Skeeter,_

 _In what this reporter believes, and experts agree, was an absolutely phenomenal performance from a seeker on a quidditch game since the law that allowed seekers to punch the players targeting them was abolished in 1500, our mysterious seeker from the Cannons who the Quidditch community has named, Seeker X for his seemingly mysterious appearance and identity, captured the snitch within hour mark, winning the game 250-60 to the Cannons against the Falcons._

 _Seeker X, not only showed brilliant performance by capturing the snitch from right between the brutal brothers, Carl Brutal and Calvin Brutal, but also showed the qualities of an excellent chaser by successfully dodging myriads of bludgers thrown at him by the brothers. Incidentally, he fell short of only ten bludgers from the record against seeker Paul Gerard from the Caerphilly Catapults._

 _"The man passed, dodged, captured the snitch, I tell you he is an all round package," said Roger Nye, which I am sure that our readers would recognize as previous chaser from Willborn Wasps and current commentator for the Wizarding Wireless. "The way he flew, why I felt as if I were watching a bird itself! I tell you, that man was born to fly on a broomstick!" added William Corn, previous Keeper from the Kenmare Kestrels as well as another of the WW's commentators._

 _Amidst all these praises, the question that I as well as many other of my reporter friends were extremely curious about in the post match interview was the identity of the man himself. So imagine our surprise, when the coach of the Chudley Cannons, Ruth Villager, dismissed us in a not so subtle manner by deliberately feeding us the false name that the two illustrious commentators had conjured. Which begs the question, what's so mysterious about Seeker X that the Cannons even refuse to tell us his name? This question carried this hard working reporter to a quest of most curious nature._

 _Dear readers, you would be shocked to hear that no one, and I mean that absolutely no one from the club was willing to give me any sort of answer regarding the man's identity, so this reporter did what she is best at doing, digging facts. In pursuing Seeker X's origin, this reporter met Tommy Randal, the seeker of the junior leagues of Chudley Cannons who gave up the position in favor of our Seeker X and he had this to say, "Well, he was a decent bloke. I don't remember his name but he looked quite dashing, not that I swing the other way, mind. Still, with blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked like a muggle superstar, you know what I mean?"_

 _And this, dear readers, was what I found out! Cannons refusing to divulge his identity, Seeker X failing to show for the post-match interview, Ragmar Dorkins avoiding the reporters? All fact points to one inevitable conclusion. The illustrious seeker from Cannons, can very well be a muggle! It remains to be seen what the ministry of magic decides upon this tidbit that this reporter has uncovered with such hard work. We will, of course, keep you up to date._

 _For more information on Quidditch sightings by muggles, turn page 4_

 _For reading more on Carl brutal's statement about 'doing his mom so bad the next time..' and other Quidditch related gossips, turn page 5._

* * *

"So Severus, apparently, I am a muggle," Harry said, putting the newspaper back, with a undisguised amusement on his voice.

"And I am Merlin," Snape replied promptly.

Harry raised his eyebrows at him, amusement never leaving his face, "At least Rita Skeeter believes such."

"She is an idiotic cow whom I had the displeasure of interacting with in my school days. I would take everything she says with a cube of salt, a rather large cube of salt."

"Never knew you were so fond of salt, Severus," He smirked before continuing, "anyways tell me why you are here."

Snape looked at him in a calculating manner, "Am I not welcome here anymore?"

Harry looked at the man with equal exasperation, "Quit it Severus."

There went Snape's playing-the-indignant card. Deciding that it was best to be honest, he continued, "I was conducting an experiment."

"Oh?" Harry raised his eyebrows, "What sort of experiment?"

"I merely wanted to know when it was the easiest to reach your.. this place," Snape replied.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Let me guess, you finished your mastery thesis and had time to spare, didn't you?"

Snape huffed but ultimately nodded.

"Very well, what were your findings then?" Harry asked.

"I have found, through multiple apparations without any destination in mind, and before you say, it is indeed dangerous so I always had a splinching potion on hand. As I was saying, through multiple apparations without any destinations in mind, I have found that it is the most easiest to reach this place on Tuesday and Saturday, the minimum being five apparation efforts on Tuesday-"

Before he could continue, Harry stopped him, "Wait, you have been coming here all week?"

Snape scowled at him, "Yes, but I came only to check my hypothesis and for nothing more."

"I believe you, no need to get so defensive.. sheesh!"

"As I was saying, it is easiest to reach you on Tuesday and Saturday and the hardest on Wednesday and Friday, my maximum being thirty apparitions on one Wednesday," he concluded.

Harry blined incredulously. Thirty apparitions? Snape sure was tenacious.. if nothing else.

"How did you even find the time for your experiments?" Harry asked curiously. The man had just begun teaching at Hogwarts after all.

"I managed," Severus said mysteriously.

"You are deliberately not giving any assignments to the class to avoid grading them, aren't you?" Harry sighed.

Snape scowled, was there nothing that he could keep secret from him?

"You know Severus, your experiments were a waste. As I have repeatedly told you, you come here when you want to come here. There's nothing more to it."

Snape scoffed and muttered something which eerily sounded like, "Old coots and their riddles.."

Harry could have argued some more but decided against his better judgement.

"But really, wasn't your mastery supposed to take a year though?"

Snape smirked, "I have decided to submit my recipe for the Wolfsbane potion."

"The one that Amber mentioned?" Harry asked.

Snape's scowled (again!) a bit at the mention of Amber's name but nodded nevertheless.

"So you just decided to submit one of your old works? Don't you.. I don't know, want to do something new?"

"It is not necessary," Snape said with a tone that Harry understood meant.. _I don't want to talk about it._

Giving up on it, Harry started a new line of conversation,

"Anyways, now that you have completed your potions thesis, with a year to spare, I might add. What are your plans?"

"I wished to talk about the same, as a matter of fact," said Snape a little hesitantly.

Hary nodded, signalling him to continue,

"I can now get myriads of job so I need not be on Hogwarts anymore.."

"Oh?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Frankly, I can't stand the dunderheads. They don't even have the sense of taking the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills on a simple boilcure potion!"

Harry smiled, thinking about Neville in his first year. But surely Snape couldn't have been put off by something so.. meager?

"That's not the real reason, isn't it?" Harry asked with a smirk.

Snape sighed in a tired way. There was no hiding things from these old relics, he concluded. And though he didn't want to divulge his real reason for rushing his mastery thesis, he had already realized that hiding things from Flamel was more trouble than it was worth.

"It's Black.. He is infuriating!"

"um hmm.. Go on," Flamel encouraged.. And like a dam that had been released, words came out from Snape's mouth on its own. Words that Snape's Slytherin side would have definitely never uttered. About how Black always targeted him at school, how Black always got away from punishment, how Black always changed his hair color in front of his students, how he could not simply stand looking at him.

"And worst of all is that cursed name! Snivellus, he calls me! I simply do not snivel! At all!"

While Harry would have begged to differ, this was not the time.

After letting out some more words, Snape heaved a huge sigh.. It felt oddly comforting to have shared his worries with others, which was directly in conflict with his Slytherin values which dictated that one simply did not share them, for worries were weaknesses and weaknesses could be exploited.

"Soo.. What you mean to say, is that Black is being mean to you?" Harry asked carefully.

"Yes!" Snape said a bit too quickly and immediately felt like a twelve year old complaining to his parents. The small hint of red that were on his cheeks did not go unnoticed by Harry.

"Well you do always retaliate, don't you? He calls you Snivellus, you call him mutt. He colors your hair red, you color his green.. What's the problem then!?"

Snape snorted, "He practically revels in being called a mutt! And while I do retaliate, yes, it is most tiring to compete with an idiot with no other purpose than to make others' life miserable. I, unfortunately, do not have such time and energy. I would rather kill him and be done with it."

"Ahh.. but you can't exactly kill him now, can you?" Harry added.

"A shame, I assure you," he replied.

A idea then occurred to Harry and a grin formed on his face..

"Tell you what Severus, if I could somehow make Black, no.. anyone, stop calling you by that name, would you reconsider leaving Hogwarts? In fact, I will make you a proposal. The brewing process for wolfsbane that you have discovered cuts off the brewing time in half, right?"

Snape nodded.

"Then make a potion that cuts off the cost in half, and I will give you something that I know you would like tremendeously."

"Why?" Snape asked warily.

"Well, think of how much good you can do to the wizarding society (Snape scoffed). Alright alright, I have, as I have mentioned before, need of you in Hogwarts. Besides, would the Slytherin in you forgive you if you conceded to Sirius?" Harry asked a little provocatively.

Snape thought for a minute.. while looking at Black's face everyday was arduous on its own, he could grudgingly accept it in the favor of not hearing that blasted word ever from the cursed Marauder's mouth as well as a reward from Flamel.

"Fine," Snape replied, distaste not leaving his mouth.

A wand then appeared out of nowhere on Harry's hand.

Snape looked at it curiously and asked, "I have only seen you use a wand once."

Harry smiled in response,

"That is because I rarely use my wand.. But when I do use it,"

He let his words linger for a bit

"Things become most interesting!"

* * *

Currently in Godric's Hollows, the residence of the Potters, a curious scene was undergoing.

A rather charming looking man with long black hair and mischievous smile was pacing to and fro in a room full of three others.

"Would you stop that already," James Potter, the owner of the house as well as the friend of the rather restless Sirius Black finally said it out loud, "Merlin! I am tiring out by simply looking at you."

"But you don't understand James, they won! The Cannons won!"

All three people present in the room gave out a collective groan. For the past half hour or so, Sirius had been repeating the same thing again and again.

"Yes, Padfoot, we heard you the first time," a shabbily dressed Remus Lupin said with a hint of tiredness. It had just been full moon the other day and Remus still hadn't recovered.

Sirius looked a little guilty to have troubled his friend like that but his shock over the matter had entirely disturbed his common sense (which, some would argue, was practically non-existent.)

"Although," James began, "it does sound fishy."

Others, except Lily, perked up.

"I mean, think about it," James said while rearranging his glasses, "right at the beginning of the season, the Cannons acquire a new seeker, which isn't unusual at all. But they do not even divulge his identity? Not even his name? And his performance? Why if that pre-match checkup for Felix Felicius wasn't in place, I'd argue that he had overdosed on the liquid luck."

"And what," Lily said while raising her head from James' shoulder, "would warrant your justification on him using Felix Felicius? Surely playing with some brooms and balls can't be that impressive."

Lily's nonchalant remark had all the qualities to rile up any Quidditch loving fan. One in particular showed the most vocal reaction.

"Playing with brooms and balls!? Lils! How could you even say that!? It was the greatest sight I had ever had the fortune to lay my eyes upon," Sirius paused for a bit, "perhaps second.. My first always would be my bitch of a mother setting her hair on fire with that curse she had been attempting to teach me..

"But that's not the point! The man was magnificent Lily. You should have seen him take that dive.. The flying, the execution, the pull off.. It was perfect! Absolutely perfect. Almost made me forget about that hundred galleons I bet on the Falcons.."

Remus and James nodded solemnly. While they hadn't had the time to go and watch the game themselves, they had watched the ominoculars recordings of the game afterwards.

Outnumbered three to one, Lily did the only sensible thing she knew she could, she huffed and left the room while muttering "boys and their stupid games.." under her breath.

James, as if by reflex, got up and tried to go after her. Tried being the word. Remus was quick to pull him back on the couch.

"Let her be, Prongs. You need to stop hovering over her so much or you will tire her out!" he said.

James looked doubtful but a look at Sirius managed to convince him.

"I just.. I can't help it you know.. The minute she is out of my eyes, I fear that I may lose her again. I need her constant presence by my side to remind me that the last year was merely a scary nightmare."

"We understand James," Remus said kindly, "but you need to understand that this.." he gestured to everything around him, "is real. Lily is with you and will always be with you. Rose has got both her Mum and Dad with her now. This is not a dream James, stop fretting about it."

"I know.." he sighed, "I just.. It's just hard to believe, you know."

"Don't fret Prongs," Sirius piped up, "You have finally got the happy life you deserved and I swear to you that nothing will take it from you, not while I am alive!"

The seriousness in Sirius' voice startled him. Granted that he had been miserable for the last year and his friends had tried any and all methods to cheer him up without any real success, but he had no idea that their conviction was so strong. Sirius was practically placing James' happiness before his own well-being. Despite of being good friends for so long, this gesture touched him profoundly.

He said nothing and just stood up and hugged his best friend. Remus soon joined him and three friends exchanged silent vows of having each other's back for as long as they lived.

James could feel the fear of Lily waking up being a dream leave him completely. At that moment, he finally realized that he had his wife, his daughter and his friends with him and they were not just going to go away. For him, this moment would qualify for a corporeal patronus of a most powerful nature, one that he would make use of in the future.. repeatedly.

"Now," James said, breaking up the impromptu group hug, "how about we go up to the three broomsticks and harass our dear Rosemerta?"

A grin formed on Sirius' face while Remus sighed.

"A most excellent suggestion Mr. Prongs. What say you Mr. Moony!?" He asked with a mischievous smile.

"Need you even ask Mr. Padfoot?" Remus said with a small smile.

James smiled heartily. They would be finally going on a boys' night out after a long time. Not before reinforcing the wards on the house of course.

* * *

It is a very well known fact that alcohol lowers inhibition. Naturally, the fact also extends to magical drinks, such as Firewhisky. Consequently, people are much more prone to do stupid things, like for instance, divulge the things that they are not supposed to do, when under its influence..

"You met whom!?" James Potter nearly roared in fury, all influence of the drink he had been consuming a minute before gone.

"Calm down James," Remus said softly, he was beginning to think that he shouldn't have had so much to drink after all.

"How could I calm down Remus!? He sold my family to Voldemort (people around his table gasped)! He was the reason I lost Lily in the first place!" James was red with fury.

Dumbledore had, of course, told him all about the prophecy after James had hounded him for days. He had desperately wanted to know the reason behind Voldemort's obsession over his family which had ultimately led to Lily's condition. Naturally, he had also extracted, albeit with extreme difficulty, the identity of the one who had carried the knowledge of the prophecy to Voldemort.

Oh how he had wanted to kill Snape at that moment! Knowing that the slimy snake was the root of all his misery had fueled such a strong desire of revenge in him that four unfortunate Death Eaters would forever loathe the name James Potter. That is, if they ever managed to wake up in the first place from St. Mungos' permanent ward.

Unfortunately, Snape was never found by James. Many had suspected that he had gone underground to escape the wrath, not of ministry since Dumbledore had vouched for him, but of other Death Eaters who now knew him to be a traitor. Whatever be the cause, James had never found Snape and that had forever been an unquenchable fire on his heart.

Now though, Remus had let slip that he had met the man a week prior on Diagon Alley. Lily had opened her eyes and they had finally found Snape, James was having trouble believing his good fortune.

Remus, on the other hand, was beginning to fear the expression that was forming on his best friend's face. That was the face which Remus knew all too well, one of the inner animal. It wanted nothing more than to kill those who had wronged it. Just as Remus was beginning to get frantic, help arrived in the form of Sirius, who had gone to fetch more drinks.

"Who died!?" Sirius said, noticing the grave atmosphere between his two friends.

"Moony met Snape," James said darkly.

Remus was a little relieved to have Sirius back. He was the only one who could calm James when he got blinded by bloodlust. It was especially true in the days when Lily had had that accident. Now too, he was confident that Sirius could soothe James,

"Oh yeah, he is teaching at Hogwarts with me,"

Or not.

"WHAT!" James roared.

Sirius had the nagging sensation that he was forgetting something all over the week but he hadn't figured out what.. until now.

"And you didn't think to tell me!?" James said with a voice drenched in fury and accusation.

Now Sirius knew James' wrath. In fact, he still hadn't forgotten the stinging hex that James had hit him in his fifth year after he had stolen Lily's knickers, accidentally of course. As such, his mind began whirring in speeds uncommon to him to deliver an excuse (he wasn't simply going to say that he forgot!)

Now back in the day of the blood war, the Order had a saying between them, "when things are sore, think Dumbledore." Borrowing the same wisdom of the war, Sirius promptly replied,

"Dumbledore had asked me not to!" From there on, he just took off.. "You had just gotten Lily back and both him and I did not want to upset you. Besides, think James, would you have left Lily's side to hunt him down?"

Sirius wasn't padfoot in name only. He was a dog animagus and was well adept in mimicking various dog-like qualities, the hurt puppy look being his most infamous one. Granted that he didn't use it often in front of his own sex, this situation wasn't one for hesitation. Besides, it had the intended effect of deflating James' anger (and Remus stood corrected, Sirius could always calm James down).

"I understand.." James said. In all honesty, he could see Sirius' reasons. Not that he believed Sirius entirely, knowing him, he had probably forgotten about the entire ordeal and was just pushing blame on Dumbledore. Regardless, this was not the place or time to think about such things. And really, he couldn't just barge into Hogwarts right now and demand a duel with that snake, not while Dumbledore was there.. or Minerva for that matter.

"Thanks James," Sirius let out a breath of relief, "Now that's enough about Snivellus,"

Sirus said, attempting to divert his friend's attention from Snape, which turned out to be a bad move.. a very very bad move.

Universe, with a twisted sense of humor that it had.. brought Rosemerta, the well-endowed landlady of Three Broomsticks, to their table precisely at that time to ask whether they required anything else.

Suddenly, Sirius stood up from his chair and proclaimed, in a rather loud voice, for all those present to hear,

 _"_ _Rosy Rosy Rosemerta,_

 _I wish I could shag you,_

 _Like I did sweet Gerta!_ _"_

...

...

Everyone around them was stunned at this sudden proclamation.

"The one before our year?" Remus whispered to James.

Too shocked to utter any words, James merely bobbed his head up and down.

"Wasn't she her niece?" Remus whispered again.

James bobbed his up and down again.

"The one that moved to France, heartbroken?"

James confirmed..

"And didn't Rosemerta swore to cut the bits off of whoever broke her heart in the first place?"

A nod again.

The whole pub was silent by now. Those who knew of the Gerta scandal some years prior had an incredible look about them, while those who did not were snickering quietly at the horrid proposal Black had just made to Rosemerta. Meanwhile, those who knew of Rosemerta's wrath had sneakily showed themselves the way out.. which included both Remus and James.

After a minute had passed, Sirius finally realized that he had messed up.. bad. He looked to his left and then to his right and muttered, "traitors," under his breath after finding neither of his friends around.

 _So much for having each other's back!_

He then looked in front of him to see the pretty Rosemerta smile viciously, her wand tip glowing bright with a dangerous red.

"So.. Sirius Black, you want to knock me up like my niece, do you?"

Sirius, prompted by Universe which apparently still hadn't had its fill of humor yet, nodded dumbly.

Up until now, whenever Sirius thought of stinging hexes, he would envision an enraged James chasing him with his wands out, threatening to cut off little padfoot.. Henceforth, the vision would remain the same, albeit it would be Rosemerta instead of James.

* * *

 _Author Notes:_

 _Thanks for reading dear readers! Have I ever mentioned how awesome you are !?_

 _Btw, if you like the story, leave a comment for me! (leave it even if you don't!)_


End file.
